Getting to Know Me
by Aero-Klaine
Summary: Ellie is upset when she is forced to move from Australia to England and transfer to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizadry, away from all of her friends, but she soon realises that maybe life at Hogwarts won't be so bad. Multiple OCs.
1. Welcome to Hogwarts

**Chapter 1: Welcome to Hogwarts**

"I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it."

-Jack Handey

**Date: Sunday, August 31****st****, 1976  
>Time: 2pm<br>Location: New House in Gravesend, a small village somewhere in England**

After much thinking and discussion -with myself-, I have decided that this year, I should write down all of what is to happen in this book -journal, diary, whatever you want to call it- I never have been one for writing down my thoughts, but as I'm in a new location, about to go off on a 'New Adventure', of sorts, I suppose I should figure out how to do so. I need some way to vent my anger, and this seems to be the healthiest way.

I also think that, if I should ever decide to show anybody the contents of this book, -to show them how screwed up my life truly is- that I should let them know the basics.

My name is Elliette Hannah Norman. My first name is probably one of the most notable things my mother has ever come up with, as I am yet to find anyone with a name as imaginative and utterly _amazing_ as mine.

Though of course, not many people seem to be coherent enough to ever pronounce it right without me literally spelling it out for them. It's always irked me greatly, the fact that a name as perfectly feminine as mine could be mistaken for such a loathsome name as 'Elliot'.

Which is why, I usually just encourage everyone simply to call me 'Ellie'. Much easier for their poor little brains, you see. A whole syllable less to comprehend!

Ack, I'm getting off topic…

Anyway, continuing on. I turned sixteen at the end of last year, quite a feat really. I've been rather sure since about age twelve that I was simply too mental to survive this long without simply being murdered by someone, friend or foe -Or by throwing myself off some sort of high location, like a cliff, or the Harbour Bridge…

Don't get me wrong, I simply adore my friends, and I'm almost positive that they love me as well, but sometimes I think I'm a bit much, even for them.

I have three brothers and two sisters, but my parents separated before I turned three. I live with my mum, older brother Tom, and little sisters, Kady and Samara. My younger brothers, Michael and Izaac are still in Australia, living with my dad and step-mum.

I long ago gave up on the idea of a 'normal family' and five years ago completely trashed the idea of living a 'normal life'.

Reason?

I'm a witch.

Yes. A witch.

No you are not misreading, no I am not going mad.

(It's a bit late for that really)

Here's how it happened:

Five years ago, about a week after my eleventh birthday, I was happily eating breakfast with my mum and brother, blissfully enjoying the silence -we didn't speak often while eating, it usually ended with some sort of argument between myself and Tom, the stupid arse-, when it happened.

An owl swooped through the open door, landed _right in front_ of my plate of toast, and stuck out a feathery, letter-bound leg.

Naturally, at that sweet, innocent age of eleven, my reaction was instantaneous.

"HOLY CRAP! Mum! There's an owl in the butter!"

Tactful, I know.

It's not like I even like butter or anything anyway.

Pft.

My brother quickly fell back in his chair, and my mum stood up, backing away slowly, pregnant with my little sisters at the time -barely, but still.

I was the only one who remained at the table.

After getting over the initial shock that yes, there _was_ a nocturnal bird of prey on the kitchen table, I had a good look at the bird.

It was quite a beautiful creature really, all glossy feathers and shiny eyes. I have always had a soft spot for odd animals.

I was having a rather intense staring contest with the bird before I glanced down at its extended leg. Without actually moving closer, I checked the letter. My eyes must have widened to twice their size once I realised.

"Mu…Mum?" I said in a quiet voice, shaking ever so slightly. "Mum. It's got my name on it."

"What?" she said sharply, glancing between me and the bird warily, "Ellie, just get up and move away from it before it does anything!"

I, of course, was doing no such thing.

"The letter! It has my name on it mum! See, look!" I turned to my mum, pointing at the letter in question.

She slowly realised what I'd said, before slowly moving closer. After getting close enough to check for herself, but not near enough to be within striking distance of the owl, which was calming waiting for someone to just _take_ the letter, she gasped slightly.

I took that as confirmation enough to take it and open it.

As soon as I had done so, the owl snatched a crust of toast off my plate, and flapped over to sit on one of the unoccupied chairs.

I stared at it rather fondly. It seemed more intelligent than my brother, that first owl.

I then stared down at the letter in my hands for a few seconds, before finally tearing it open.

It had two sheets of parchment inside, and I pulled them out, unfolding them and quickly began to read my letter.

_Dear Miss Norman,_

_I am delighted to inform you that you have been selected to attend the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Magic at the start of February. This may come as a shock, but I will happily explain to you and your family members in this letter._

_Witches and wizards still exist today. There are hundreds of thousands of magical people all around the world, and it has come to our attention that you are one. Don't worry; there are plenty of other children your age who come from Muggle (non-magic) parentage. I am sure there have been many occasions where you have done something you nor anyone around you could explain. This is perfectly normal for one your age._

_It has been the duty of those of us at ANZIM to teach young Australian and New Zealand witches and wizards how to control their magic since our ancestors first settled here, something I'm sure you learnt about at school._

_As it is, you are now obliged to attend this school starting from the 1__st__ of February. I have further enclosed all the supplies you will need for the school year, how to attain them, and how to get to ANZIM._

_Regards,_

_Elizabeth Johnson,_

_Deputy Head Mistress._

After reading the letter through about five times, I handed it to my mother, speechless.

It had to be some sort of ruse, surely.

But then I remembered Christmas a few years beforehand, when I had gotten into an argument with one of my cousins and he disappeared from right in front of me, reappearing again a few minutes later, screaming, clinging to the windowsill in the bathroom.

And that time at school when some of the nastier boys were teasing me, and in a moment of courage -I've always been easily intimidated- and anger, told them they'd be better off as rats than people, and they proceeded to grow rather long, bony tails.

At first I'd been rather shocked and frightened by those incidents, and ones following that, but after reading that letter, it was starting to make sense.

I then scanned the list of books and such I would be needing, growing more excited by the minute, especially after seeing I could bring a pet owl.

Most of what I remember after that is mum freaking out, my brother saying in a rather pompous and sure-of-himself way that it couldn't _possibly_ be true, and me asking if I could get an owl as a late birthday present.

Mum ended up sending a reply back with the owl -I was terribly sad to see it go-, still not entirely convinced, while I demanded we travel to Sydney -the nearest place with a magical shop district and direct transport to the school- right then. Mum wouldn't answer me until she'd got the reply though, which explained in more detail the situation. After a few days, mum finally accepted that it was true, and we drove to Sydney.

It took us a while to find the place, which was concealed behind a small office building, about a kilometre east of the Harbour Bridge. Once we were through the office, we were directed to a stairwell, leading down. Mum hesitated at first, but eventually we made it to Gresford Street.

It turned out to be a rather long underground street, buildings sporting signs and posters of various magical goods on either side. I gripped my mum's hand tightly, barely able to control my excitement. I immediately went to move towards the building that had a large number of owls out the front of it, but mum jerked me back.

"Don't go running off anywhere," She told me sternly, "We need to figure out how we're supposed to buy you this stuff. I highly doubt I can buy you a cauldron with a twenty dollar note."

I grudgingly obliged, instead moving towards a rather large building covered in several signs depicting jewels, bars of gold, and odd looking coins.

After swapping our 'Muggle money' for a bag of the odd looking coins -which I learned were called Galleons, Sickles and Knuts- we made our way to several different shops to get my school robes -they were a nice navy-blue colour, with a light blue blouse and black pleated skirt-, books, cauldron and potion ingredients.

Eventually we found ourselves inside the Wandmakers, a shop that looked rather small from the outside, but inside had row upon row of shelves stacked with small boxes. I will always remember my feeling of excitement and anticipation as a rotund old woman came bustling out from one of the aisles of shelves and smiled kindly at me.

"Getting your wand for school, dear? Follow me, we'll see if we can find it,"

I started spurting questions about wands, which the old witch seemed all too happy to answer, all the while magicing a tape-measure to measure my arm -by _itself_-, which made me gape.

After a minute or two, she stood on a stool and reached up to a box on one of the highest shelves, pulling it down and opening it, extending it towards me and saying, "Cypress and Unicorn hair, eleven and three-quarter inches. Slightly springy. Give it a try my dear!"

I gingerly took the wand, balancing it in my right hand before pointing it at the ribbon that had just recently tied the box.

Upon doing so, the ribbon deftly rose and re-tied itself rather neatly, and I gave a little squeal of delight.

The old woman grinned at me and said, "Yes, it'll do quite well I'm sure. That'll be seven galleons my dear, thank you!"

We quickly paid her and left, me gripping the wand like it could disappear at any moment. Mum looked into the purse of coins and said, "We've still got a few of those gold coins, and plenty of the silver and bronze ones… I think we ought to get you an owl, so that you can write while you're at this school…" My eyes immediately lit up and I beamed at my mother.

"Really? Thank you thank you thank you!" I quickly darted over to the shop I'd seen earlier, gazing hungrily at the owls -not in the 'I want to eat them' sense, of course!-, when I heard someone near me -who definitely wasn't my mum or brother- say to me;

"A-are you starting this year too?" I turned to face whoever had spoken curiously. It was a girl around my age, with brown hair and a rather embarrassed expression on her face. I nodded slowly before answering her.

"Yeah… I didn't even know I was a witch until a few days ago actually!" The other girls face lit up.

"Really? Me either! I just came to get all my stuff, and mum said I can get a cat!" She grinned, glancing inside the shop as eagerly as I was staring at the owls.

"_My _mum just said I can get an _owl_!" I replied, trying not to sound _too_ arrogant, but failing miserably. Though at the time I was too excited to really care.

The girl gaped at me. "Wow! Mum doesn't really like birds much… She flipped out when the owl delivered my letter, it was priceless!" She smirked rather happily before continuing, "She said I can get a cat though, they make less noise or something…" She shrugged before exclaiming, "Oh! I'm Kailee by the way! Kailee McMillan!" She stuck out a hand and I shook it happily.

"I'm Ellie Norman; it's so nice to meet someone else who can use magic!" I creased my eyes in a smile before turning to my mum, who had finally joined me and said to her, "Look! I found someone else who's going to my school!" My mum sighed and said, "That's great, Ellie. Now do you want to get this owl or not?"

My eyes widened and I nodded furiously, turning back to Kailee.

"Let's get inside and look at them all!"

Kailee nodded to me, and we both bolted into the shop, staring at all the different owls, cats, rats, toads and various other creatures I didn't recognise inside the little magical pet shop. Eventually she found a small tabby kitten, claimed it was 'too cute _not_ to buy' and proceeded to cling to it, refusing to look at any of the other cats.

I was making my way around, looking at all the different owls, trying to decide which one to choose. I finally came to a barn owl, which looked a fair bit smaller than the other ones around it, and seemed to be getting picked on by them. I immediately felt a sort of kinship towards the bird and quickly swotted away the larger ones, extending a hand to stroke the small bird.

It seemed to look up at me gratefully, leaning into my fingers and hooting happily.

I grinned in delight and announced to my mum, "I want this one!" She came over, looked at the small owl and nodded her consent.

A few minutes later, both animals and their cages, food -and a few toys- were respectively paid for, we were outside the shop, mine and Kailee's mother's exclaiming to one another about how much of a shock it had been to find out about the whole magical world.

Not long after, mum decided that we should be heading back, and I turned to Kailee.

"I guess I'll see you at school then!"

"Yeah I guess so! Nice meeting you!"

She walked away with her mother, giving me a small wave over her shoulder, still clinging to her little tabby kitten.

At that point I had decided that it had probably been the best day of my life –so far- and can honestly think of no better day even now, as I'm writing this down.

I remember the rest of January passing agonisingly slow, me having read all my school books two times over in my excitement. On the 31st of January, we drove back to Sydney and stayed the night at a pub/hotel down the road from the office concealing Gresford Street. I woke early the next morning, my trunk packed and my owl, Rae, sitting content in her cage.

We drove to the Sydney train station, and followed the signs only I could see –quite literally. There were signs directing to an old platform believed to be disused by the muggles, signs that obviously had one of those special concealment charms I'd read about- until we made it to the platform, which at first glance appeared to be abandoned and broken, but after a second look, was swarming with people, trunks and cages, moving to get onto what looked like a converted coal train.

I had to bring mum and Tom forward more before they were able to see it, and when they finally did they stopped and blinked for a bit, gaping at what had just appeared to be a dusty old train platform.

Really, it _was_ pretty amazing.

It didn't take long before I spotted Kailee, and started waving like mad at her, grinning ridiculously.

She made her way over and we made small-talk about how excited we were, before deciding it was time to get on the train and find a seat.

I looked back at my mum and brother –who looked _quite_ jealous I might add-, smiling rather sadly, before rushing and hugging them both.

"I get holidays the same as normal, so I'll see you in 10 weeks. I'll write to you as soon as I can, and please don't worry about me!"

My mum nodded, smiling through a few tears and said, "You better! Now go on, get on the train. I'll be here when you get back."

I smiled at her, kissed her goodbye and pulled my trunk towards the train, carrying Rae's cage in my free hand.

Now, that was just what happened _before_ I got to ANZIM. What happened once I finally got there will take _much_ too long to explain in this, as I actually have a more important thing to talk about now, and I don't think this book has enough room for my whole schooling there.

Because now, after living in Australia for 16 years, and going to that school for five…

We've moved to England.

And I sure as hell am _not_ happy about it.

And honestly, I don't even think the reason is completely legitimate.

I had a fairly good life back home. I went to a school hidden in an unknown –and probably wizard-made- oasis in the middle of the Australian desert. I had –_have_- an amazing group of friends there.

But then mum gets offered a bloody _job_ in some unknown bloody village in _Kent_ managing some sort of million-bloody-dollar horse stud, and I'm not allowed to stay in Australia.

Not for my _friends_.

Not for my _school_.

Not for my _life_.

And all I can say is this.

Seriously mum?

Do you hate me that much because I can use magic and you can't?

Thanks.

You have officially ruined my life.

And tomorrow, I get to start at a whole _new _Wizarding School!

Whoopdee_fucking_doo.

'Best in the Country'? It's the _only one_ in this damned water-logged country. And it's not even in bloody England for crying out loud! It's in _Scotland_.

Like seriously.

What the hell.

'Oldest Wizarding School in the World' be damned, I don't want to go there.

It's _completely_ unfair.

Oh and also.

We just moved away from _Australia_. Probably the safest place in the world compared to England right about now.

Because you know.

There's a _war_.

And a group of bloody Pure-Blood _lunatics_ are going around killing muggles and muggle-borns for _fun_!

Does no-one get that?

I might end up dead at the end of the year, just for being who I am.

And that makes me not particularly happy.

So for now, I've shut myself in this room. I'm not even going to call it _my_ room, because I'm going off to bloody Hogwarts for the rest of the year, and I don't really plan on coming 'home' for Christmas or Easter.

And all I want to do now is eat a chocolate bloody _whale_, appearance be damned.

I hate my life.

**Date: Same  
>Time: 6pm-ish<br>Location: Same**

Mum is calling me down for dinner.

But I _refuse_ to go down there.

I don't care what it is she's cooked to try and soften me up. I'm not going down there.

…

Oh great, someone's knocking on my door now.

Bugger it all.

**Date: Same  
>Time: Closer to 7<br>Location: Same**

…That bitch.

She went and cooked my favourite food.

And sent the twins to get me.

How slack can you get?

I was perfectly happy brooding in my room, listening to _totally_ inappropriate music –according to my mood at least… I'm pretty sure ABBA doesn't make me seem all rebellious and depressed or anything, but it's the best music I have- and writing in this, and she had to go and bloody _ruin_ all of that.

By making me _Potato Bake_.

Merlin I hate her so much.

More so _now_ because I just _couldn't_ tell the twins why I didn't want to go eat _my favourite food_.

She's evil.

Cruel, manipulative and _evil_.

Now it's actually making me _want_ to go to this stupid school, if only to get away from her.

So now, after actually having eaten something -besides chocolate frogs and sugar quills- since arriving at this stupid new house, I'm feeling even more depressed.

Ugh…

Can't You-Know-Who just come and kill me now, when I don't mind simply just _dying_?

Nothing in the world is fair.

**Date: Same  
>Time: 10pm<br>Location: Same**

I went and had a shower to try and calm myself down.

It was damn well working too.

Until Tom cam and bashed on the door, yelling at me that mum had yelled at _him_ to tell me to get out because I'd been in the shower for nearly forty minutes.

Pft. You can't _blame_ me if I was trying to drown myself.

Either way, I'm sitting in bed again now, and I turned my music off two hours ago so the twins could go to sleep and I'm completely _bored_.

So bored that once I've finished writing this, I'll start reading _Hogwarts: A History_.

Only because I have nothing better to do.

Not because I look forward to going to the place.

Ok?

Ok.

**Date: Monday September 1****st****  
>Time: 7am<br>Location: Bathroom**

Mum came and practically broke my door down trying to get me up at five this morning.

I mean come on.

What the _frig_?

Why would anyone in their right mind try to do something as terrible as that?

Anyway, now that I've convinced mum that _yes_ I do have everything packed –not for lack of not trying- and actually eaten something substantial for breakfast, I've locked myself in here, pretending to brush my hair –well, not really _pretending_, I'm actually attempting to coax my messy brown wavy-curly-straight hair into a suitable state of not-quite-as-messy…ness… And I'm failing horribly so I'll make this short and try to do something about this damned mop- while venting my anger in here…

Because I think she's also got the girls to do her dirty-work for her.

They were the ones who served me breakfast, all super-bright-smiles and 'I'll miss you Ellie!'s and I swear to god it's breaking my heart, trying to be depressed and angry when they're just radiating joy and cuteness at me like that!

And the whole time mum kept giving me these damned pointed looks and it's driving me insane.

And don't even get me started on Tom.

Just because he's technically an adult now, doesn't mean he can boss me around! Besides, _I'm_ the one who could turn him into a bloody platypus if I wanted to!

And if I was actually allowed to use magic outside of school…

_Details_! What do they matter?

Oh, and-

…

I swear to Merlin, if he knocks on the door _one more time_, I'm going to curse him where the sun don't shine.

**Date: Same  
>Time: 9am<br>Location: Somewhere close-ish to London**

Now sitting in the car, driving through some village about 30 kms out of London. Or something…

I don't know where we are to be perfectly honest, only that as soon as we get to Kings Cross station, I'm getting as far away from my mum as possible, as soon as possible.

But at the minute I'm sitting between the twins, and they're constantly trying to read this over my shoulder, so I should put it away before my hand slips and I let out a swear.

**Date: Same  
>Time: 11:05am<br>Location: Kings Cross Station**

When we first got to Kings Cross, I had to get out the letter we'd got as a reply for the application for me, explaining the situation. I had of course attempted to burn the letter, but mum had sent it with Rae herself, amidst my mutters of 'traitor' aimed at my bird.

I looked at the platform mentioned in the letter, and the directions to get into it, quite amused at how everything and nothing was easy in the wizarding world. We went inside, obtaining a trolley for me, making it easier to carry my trunk –which had to be about five times heavier than it had been at my first year at ANZIM. I suppose after living in the magical world for 5 years, you tend to accumulate a lot of junk- and Rae's cage, and started counting platform numbers.

We got to the space between platforms nine and ten and I immediately smirked at the barrier.

It was quite ingenious really.

It'd be funny though, if on one of the few days the barrier wasn't sealed, some unknowing muggle just happened to lean against it…

I had to hold back a chuckle and glanced at mum quickly, -keeping my glare internal- and said to her in a rather airy voice, "Take Tom and walk through that wall there."

She looked at me as if I was mad, but I gave her a pointed look. She sighed, frowning, before putting a hand on Tom's back, pushing him along as she began walking towards the wall, and just as she was about to hit it, she visibly flinched –and vanished.

I gave a triumphant smile and turned to the twins, grinning.

"Come on you two! Let's see what it looks like!"

They grinned at me, clutching at the back of my shirt as I pushed my trolley forwards, through the barrier and out onto Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.

I held back my look of surprise and awe as I took in the scarlet steam-engine in front of me, bearing the words 'Hogwarts Express'.

I had to admit, it was a fair bit classier than the old coal train in Australia.

But old Rusty –as most of us ANZIM students had fondly called the converted freight- still had her charm! I wasn't turning over to the dark side just because they had a better _train_ than us!

I'm not _that_ much of a flake.

Pft.

I steered the trolley closer to mum, looking around anxiously, feeling some stares from the students my age, and shrinking at the attention.

Can't blame me really, after spending five years as just another True-Blue Aussie Witch, in amongst other such companions, with the occasional Maori or New Zealand accented person.

And now everyone was _staring at me_.

I wanted to curl up and just _die_.

Overly shy muggle-born, thy name is Ellie Norman.

I grimaced slightly, now actually deigning to look at my mother, if only to avoid the stares of my new classmates. She smiled sympathetically, though she was also feeling rather intimidated by some rather odd looks from some of the other parents.

Having second thoughts now mum?

Hah.

It took a moment but I finally said to her, "So uhm… the train'll be leaving in five minutes so… I should probably…" I gestured weakly at the train, which had indeed started to steam up quite nicely. Mum nodded at me.

"Yeah. You should go…" I nodded too, feeling more awkward by the second.

I leaned down and gave the girls each a big hug, now reconsidering coming back for Christmas and Easter.

They waved tearfully at me and I grudgingly let mum hug me as well, then just giving my brother this odd sort of wave. We hadn't really had much physical contact since I was about 7 so… Wasn't a big deal really.

I gave them all an awkward smile, before quickly kissing each of the twins on the forehead. I turned and pushed my trolley towards the train, looking over my shoulder at my family, giving them one last quick wave before levitating my trunk onto the train, taking Rae's cage in my hand and jumping up myself. I pulled the trunk along, glancing in each compartment as I went, before I finally –thankfully- found an empty one.

I practically vaulted myself inside, pushing my trunk under the chair and putting Rae's cage on the seat, turning and closing the door before sitting down.

I let Rae out of her cage, watching as she quickly swooped down to rest on the armrest, smiling lightly as she immediately began preening herself.

I opened my trunk, groping inside and pulling out my new robes -which were black rather than navy blue- and tugged them on over my plain black shirt and jeans. I fumbled around some more before pulling out first _Hogwarts: A History_ and then this.

I set _Hogwarts: A History_ down next to me, and pulled a quill out of my pocket, and immediately began writing all of this down.

So now I've been sitting here for about ten minutes, occasionally glancing out the window to watch England fly by.

And I'm completely bored, so I think I might keep reading that book…

**Date: Same  
>Time: A few hours later<br>Location: Hogwarts Express, a fair amount closer to Scotland**

I cannot believe this.

Why didn't she _write_ me for crying out loud?

If I'm not so happy to see her, I might just kill her.

Merlin… I honestly wasn't expecting this…

Okay so, now to explain.

I'd probably been reading the book for only fifteen minutes, before the compartment door opened.

I literally flinched, looking up very slowly at who was now standing in front of me.

Turned out it was more than just one person though.

Naturally.

"Hi there! I'm Marlene! So you're the new girl everyone's said they saw?"

I blinked in surprise, staring at the light-haired girl in front of me, who was flashing a brilliant smile at me.

I opened my mouth to reply, but one of her friends, a girl with darker hair -though not quite as dark as mine- slapped the first girl, Marlene, on the side of the head.

"Sorry about that, we really should keep her on a tighter leash." She shook her head at her friend, who was glaring and rubbing her head. "Anyway, my name's Mary. Mary McDonald. It is rather nice to meet you, of course. This one just needs to learn the art of subtlety."

I gave a weak little smile at that, finally finding my chance to reply to them. "It's okay, I was expecting this to happen eventually… My name's Ellie… Norman." I added after a pause, rubbing the back of my neck. "It's… nice to meet you too, I guess…"

Mary smiled at me and asked "Where are you from exactly? Like, you don't sound British at all so…?" I gave a soft laugh at that.

Of course I didn't sound British!

Pft.

"Australia. I'm from Australia…" Finally, the last girl –she had bright red hair- spoke.

"Australia? I thought so. It either had to be that or New Zealand, really." She nodded her fiery-coloured head and stated, "I'm Lily Evans. Welcome to Hogwarts. Well, we haven't quite got there yet so, Welcome to the Hogwarts Express!" She smiled at me and I let out a proper laugh.

My first in a few months, actually. It rather astonished me. But anyway.

I smiled at them all properly now. If I was going to have to go to this school for the next two years, I might as well make some new friends, much as I hate to do so.

But this lot seemed alright, really.

"Wait," Marlene scrunched up her face slightly, as if in deep thought. "There's a difference between Australian and New Zealand accents?"

Seriously?

I couldn't help but crack up at that, once the question had registered in my mind.

"What?" Marlene said, frowning at me. I just shook my head, covering my mouth with my hand as I continued laughing –it's a habit I developed because of how terrible my teeth were when I was younger. In my 3rd year at ANZIM though, me and my friends experimented a bit and managed to make them all the right size and in the right place, much to my intense relief. I have never been able to laugh without instinctively covering my mouth though-. "_What_?"

Marlene was now looking more than a bit put out, so I stopped my laughter and replied in as calm a tone I could, "There is a _world_ of differences with Australian and New Zealand accents. Trust me."

Marlene looked rather shocked by that, and I grinned at her. It was then I realised this lot weren't going anywhere anytime soon, so I quickly put a piece of scrap parchment in my book to mark the page and sat it down next to me, looking back up at them.

Lily smiled at me, noticing my subtle invitation and sat down on the seat next to me. Marlene and Mary sat down across from us, and Mary quickly spotted Rae.

"Oh my god that owl is so cute! What sort is it?"

I smiled, stroking Rae's head. "She's a barn owl,"

"Seriously? I thought they were a lot bigger than that,"

"She's a dwarf of sorts…"

"What's her name?" Lily asked, leaning across me to stroke Rae as well. Being a bit of attention-lover, Rae was enjoying this immensely, hooting softly when Lily stroked her.

"Rae. It's short for Raelene,"

"That's pretty," Marlene said, nodding her head in approval. "Anyway, what year are you in? You look about the same as us, but you're kinda short- Ow!" She glared at Mary, who had slapped her on the arm.

I laughed. "It's okay, I know I'm a midget, I got over it a while ago… I'm sixteen so, I'm preeetty sure I'm in sixth year… Am I right?"

Lily nodded and Marlene grinned. "Excellent! You're in our year! Now all you have to do is get in Gryffindor!"

I smiled lightly, recalling seeing the different houses mentioned in _Hogwarts: A History_ multiple times, also noting the red and gold emblems on the three girls' robes. "Is that what you're in? You must be brave, to insult every new person you meet," I grinned devilishly at her and she laughed a little nervously.

"Yeah well, we don't get too many new people. Especially from other countries."

I nodded in understanding. "I don't imagine there are too many kids from Australia at Hogwarts…"

"One more than you know though, Lev."

The voice came from the doorway, which had been left open, and in my shock at hearing such a familiar tone and _accent_, I almost forgot to look and see.

"Holy shit… HOLY SHIT!" I exclaimed, jumping up and running at the source of the voice. Dyed black hair was practically suffocating me, but I hardly cared.

"Good to see you too, Levi,"

I ended the hug then, looking up at my best friend –she'd been taller than me for several years now- and grinning. "What the hell are you doing here? Why didn't you tell me you were here? Why didn't I see you on the Platform?"

She snorted. "You'd think you would've said something nicer. Maybe like, 'Oh, Kailee! It has been so long! Let us run off into the sunset in our happiness!', or have you forgotten what you used to be like? Hm?"

Always the charmer, that Kailee.

I rolled my eyes. "Normally, yes. But as you can _see_ we have company!" I turned around, facing the others –who looked more than a little shocked and confused- before facing her again. "And you didn't answer my question!"

Kailee rolled her eyes. "If you're going to inform me that we're 'in company', you should introduce me first, Levi,"

I scowled, knowing she was right.

"Fine, but then you're answering me! Lily, Marlene, Mary, this is Kailee McMillan. She's been my best friend for five years, and until _quite_ recently, I believed she was still in Australia. Kailee, this is Lily Evans, Mary McDonald and Marlene…" I stared at Marlene blankly for a minute. "You know, you never did tell me your last name…"

"Oh! Sorry about that! It's McKinnon. Marlene McKinnon."

"Righto. Well then, Kailee, would you care to take a seat and tell me why you are here and not at ANZIM. Did you get lost in the post?"

I of course, had been helping packing, still not quite having moved to England. But she should have been in Australia, at ANZIM with the rest of my friends I'd left behind…

But here she was, standing right in front of me.

And I've never been happier.

"Well you see Lev, not too long ago, I put my name in for that Lottery the Sunday Telegraph has been doing special. You know, in the Muggle Newspapers," I nodded, Kailee had been rather adamant about always getting a ticket for that, saying she'd get it one day… "And guess what happened? I actually won! Mum was so amazed! Mostly 'cos it'd actually been a Muggle paper. She didn't know I got it, you see. But guess how much it'd gotten up to by the time I won?"

I shrugged. "A hundred thousand? I don't know…"

Kailee grinned slowly, eyes glinting. "_One Million_ _Australian Dollars_!"

I gaped at her. "You're joking!"

She shook her head, smiling smugly at me. "And you always told me _not_ to do it cos I was 'only fifteen'. Pft. Proved you wrong, my friend."

I shook my head, laughing lightly.

"So mum decided, as a reward for getting us that much money, we could move _wherever I wanted_! So I decided to come up here with you! You know, so you wouldn't forget where you really belong, and such," She winked at me, still grinning cattishly.

I continued to shake my head. "Kailee McMillan; Money-Maker _Extraordinaire_!" I grinned at her and she laughed.

"Yes I quite like the sound of that!" We both laughed for a bit more, before I noticed something.

"Oi, where's Cheezel?"

Kailee snorted and rolled her eyes. "Who knows? Off showing everyone who's boss probably. 'Marking his territory'" We both cracked up at that, and it was also then I realised that there _were_ still other people with us. I blushed slightly and coughed.

Mary frowned slightly. "Uhm… Who or what is 'Cheezel'? And how is he 'marking his territory' exactly?"

I laughed and gave Kailee a look. "I'll let you explain that, friend o' mine!"

She snorted and answered Mary, a slight grimace on her face. "Cheezel is my cat. He 'marks his territory' by drooling on anything and everything."

Marlene burst out laughing. "Seriously? Your cat drools? That's classic! And your owl is a midget," She aimed the last bit at me, earning herself another slap from Mary.

I sighed, looking down at my undersized bird, who was currently staring –glaring? - at Marlene quite intensely, her feathers puffing out. I laughed and stroked her. "It's all right Rae; she doesn't know how amazing you really are!" The owl looked up at me now, and if she had eyebrows I swear one of them would have been raised.

I rolled my eyes and scoffed at everyone else in the compartment, "Birds! I'll never understand them," We all were laughing then, when suddenly yet another voice came from the door –I'm thinking now that we should've closed it…-.

This time however, it was male, and I certainly didn't recognise it.

"I'll say. Birds are the most confusing things ever. One minute they're all sweet and innocent and then the next: BAM! Take your eyes out!"

I gave a start, looking at the one who'd spoken. It was a tall boy with messy black hair and glasses that seemed to rest crookedly on his nose -yet it seemed intentional-.

And he wasn't alone.

There were three other boys behind him, and all four of them seemed to be the same age as those of us already in the compartment –which was now seeming _really_ crowded!-.

The boy closest behind him was about the same height as him, with shaggy black shoulder-length hair and a suspicious looking smirk. Next to him was a short plump boy with dirty-blonde hair, who seemed to be rather enjoying himself.

The last boy was shorter than the first two, but not quite as short as the little fatty –I know that sounds mean, but it's the truth. He looked like he'd had about ten too many pork-chops at the barbeque-. He had sandy brown hair that fell around his face, and a set of barely noticeable scars running down his face.

As I sat looking at them all, the other girls –not including Kailee of course, she was as surprised as I was at the new company- let off mixed reactions.

By mixed, I mean that Mary and Marlene seemed absolutely delighted to see the boys, while Lily looked as if someone had just told her that her dog had been run over by a car and some creepy old guy had made a stew out of its remains.

Which obviously wasn't the case.

All that had happened was a group of cute boys –minus fatty- had just waltzed into our compartment. Why was she looking so affronted?

Lily pretty much answered the question for me when she started talking to them.

"What on earth are you doing here? Get out. _Now_," She was glaring at the boy with glasses, who seemed rather put out by this reaction.

"Aw come on Evans, aren't you happy to see me? I'm sure you missed me over the summer!"

"Don't make me _laugh_. Can't you just bugger off to your own compartment?"

"Say James," Marlene interrupted loudly, startling most of us. "Are you here to meet our new classmates and hopefully-soon-to-be-fellow-Gryffindors?" She turned her face slightly to grin at me and Kailee.

James turned out to be Glasses-boy, and he swung his head to look at me and Kailee. After a few seconds he started to grin, before stepping over and wedging himself between us.

And draped his arms over our shoulders.

Yeah I know.

The _audacity_.

Pft. Lily seems to hate him, but I reckon he's cute.

Although, his light-haired friend with the scars seems to be more my type… Hm…

Anyhow, after he threw himself all over me and Kailee, his mate with the long hair sat on Kailee's other side, next to Lily, who glared at him as well.

"Well that's why we came here of course! To welcome our lovely new friends to our school!" James exclaimed at Marlene, who grinned at him.

"You aren't Purebloods though are you?" His friend asked rather seriously.

"Ah, n-no. I'm Muggle-born and Kailee is either Muggle-born or Half-blood… Uhm, why?" I replied, furrowing my eyebrows.

"Excellent!" He exclaimed. "Now there's no chance of you being in Slytherin! One-in-three shot of being with us!"

Kailee looked at me and asked, "Care to tell me what Slytherin is? You obviously read into this…" She looked pointedly at my long-abandoned book.

After I explained the basics of the houses, with help from the others, we got to introducing ourselves to the boys and vice-versa.

"I'm Ellie Norman and this is Kailee McMillan. We've both transferred from Australia, for different reasons of course…" I looked at James and he nodded.

"I'm James Potter, and this is Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew." He pointed to each of the other blokes as he said their names, and my eyes lingered on Remus a few seconds longer than the others, before turning back to James, smiling.

"Pleasure to meet you," He grinned back. "I'm hoping that you _do_ realise the compartment is over-flowing…?"

James laughed and finally extracted himself from the chair, moving to the doorway, his friends following.

Before they left, James turned back and looked at Lily. "It was nice to see you again Evans. You too Marley, Mary," He grinned at me and Kailee then. "Welcome to Hogwarts,"

He strode out, Sirius and Peter in tow, but Remus lingered behind, speaking for the first time.

"If they start getting in your face, come see me and I'll tell them to bugger off, okay?" He gave me and Kailee pointed looks before nodding. "Ladies," He nodded again and walked out, closing the door behind us, and leaving me blushing slightly.

I quickly willed the blush away, turning to Kailee with a raised eyebrow.

"Well isn't this turning out to be a rather eventful train-ride?"

She started laughing and before long the rest of us were too, even Lily.

After we finally stopped, Lily turned to us rather seriously.

"If Potter bothers you at all, tell me and I'll hex him into next week. I seriously will have no problem with doing so,"

I blinked. "You mean James? He seemed alright though…" I looked at Marlene and Mary questioningly, who rolled their eyes at Lily.

"Can't you just get over it, Lil? The bloke is trying to be nice. Heck, he didn't even ask you out!" Mary said, throwing Lily a look. "You know, he isn't as bad as you make him out to be. If you just got to know him, you would realise that!"

"And besides, it isn't as if he's ever actually been _mean_ to you, not like Snape-" Marlene continued after Mary, before getting interrupted.

"You leave Sev out of this Marlene!" She said angrily, glaring at Marlene, who looked exasperated.

"Don't tell me you're still _friends_ with him, Lily!" Mary exclaimed hoarsely, eyes wide.

"Well I haven't _spoken_ to him if that's what you're worried about! But I've known him for years, so just lay off! He never used to be like he is, you know…"

"Lily. It doesn't matter what he _used_ to be like. The fact is he's not like that _now_. He's a complete arse and you know it! He called you a you-know-what for crying out loud!" Marlene exclaimed.

Me and Kailee were by now looking and feeling rather uncomfortable with the conversation, considering we had no idea what was going on. But Lily quickly ended it.

"I know what he called me Marlene, thank you. And I know what he's like now. So just be quiet." She glared daggers at the pair of them, before looking at Kailee and me, softening her expression and voice –which you know, thank _god_-. "I'm sorry you two, you don't have a clue what we're talking about do you?" We shook our heads and she grimaced. "Sorry. We got a bit carried away…"

I nodded and replied weakly, "It's alright… How long before we get there do you s'pose?"

I peered out the window quickly before turning back to her. "A few more hours…"

I groaned at that, and Kailee snorted. "I thought you didn't want to go to Hogwarts?" I glared at her before turning my head away, sticking my nose in the air.

"Maybe I changed my mind! Considering how many lovely people there are here…" I gave Lily a pointed look and she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah yeah, you think they were cute, I get it! Just wait until we get to the school, you _will_ hate Potter, trust me!"

I snorted. "Not bloody likely! I reckon you just have a stick up your arse!"

Marlene cackled and grinned at me. "This one is definitely staying with us!"

I smirked. "Thank you Marlene, lovely to know somebody loves me,"

Kailee snorted and drawled at me, "Oh _yes_. I'm sure I will come _begging_ for you to be my friend again. Pft,"

I fixed another glare on her.

I mean _really_.

_I'm_ the one who always says 'pft'!

She has absolutely _no right_ to steal that from me!

"Oh, go levitate a roo…" She said, rolling her eyes at me whilst smirking up a storm.

I blushed and glared at her. "Don't even bring that up!"

"Bring what up?" Marlene questioned, eyes glinting as she leant towards us.

I shook my head furiously, but Kailee just kept smirking.

"Well you see, in first year, when we were learning 'Wingardium Leviosa', Ellie decided to go practice by herself, and-"

Kailee was cut off rather suddenly…

When I lunged at her…

And knocked her off her seat and onto the compartment floor…

Oops.

Sorry.

…

Actually, I'm really not. She'll get over it.

Anyway, once she was on the ground and my hand was clamped firmly over her mouth, I turned to the others and said sweetly, my eyes glinting dangerously "Don't worry ladies. It wasn't that important a story; you really don't need to know. In fact, you don't really _want_ to know… do you?" My eyes shifted slowly from Lily, to Mary and then to Marlene, before resting on Kailee, who rolled her eyes at me.

"Actually I thought that story sounded absolutely _spiffy_, if you wouldn't mind tell-"

Marlene was cut off when Mary clamped her hand over Marlene's mouth at her, shaking her head furiously at her rather idiotic friend. Lily said nothing the whole time this was going on.

Smart girl, that Lily Evans.

So anyway, after I let Kailee back up –with many accompanying glares of mass destruction- and we all settled back down a bit, I took this out and started writing in it. I will admit though, despite being a total cow, I _did_ miss Kailee and I'm so _so_ glad she's here with me.

It just makes the whole prospect of being in England –Scotland- so much… nicer.

Because you gotta have friends!

_End-note; I may eventually relay the origins of my nickname in here, and tell the others… maybe…_

**Date: Same  
>Time: 5 minutes later<br>Location: Same**

"Oi Lev, what the hell is that you've been writing in for the past _hour_ and thus ignoring _me_?"

"Bugger off."

"You're a bitch."

"Love you too."

"Yeah, right."

Oh how I've missed her.

**Date: Same  
>Time: Much, much later<br>Location: Hufflepuff Girls Dormitory…**

Okay so, this is totally unexpected…

And it's funny because I'm not even that angry about it anymore.

Sure I'm annoyed I can't talk to Kailee, but I did manage to… become friends, with some of the people in my new House… I mean, they're completely mental, but I'm sure once I've stopped acting so depressed we'll get along perfectly fine…

So… Guess I better explain what happened then…

Well, after much of Kailee unsuccessfully trying to make me show her what I'd been writing, and snacking on various… snackage… The train started slowing down, and we got off at Hogsmeade Station. Kailee and I were standing around looking rather confused and feeling quite out of place, and plenty of people were staring at us. I stared at my feet, completely unsure of what to do, but then Lily came up to us, sympathy etched all over her face.

Of course though, Marlene was with her.

"Aha! Don't you guys look like a couple of first years!" She laughed at her 'cleverness' for a bit before Mary slapped her arm –for like the tenth time since I've met them… A bit violent isn't she? - Marlene huffed and went to walk away, but Lily rolled her eyes, grabbing at her sleeve.

"For crying out loud Marlene, don't be so over-dramatic! The only reason Mary slapped you this time was because you were being rude! So basically, you deserved it," Marlene snorted but Lily continued anyway. "Now, let's go get a carriage before they're all gone!"

Marlene sighed. "Fine. Come on then you pair, I doubt you'll have to go across the lake like the first years," I frowned at that.

"They have to swim across a _lake_?"

That got me a few laughs. "No, there are boats. Hagrid takes them."

Uhm.

"Who's Hagrid?"

Not two seconds after I asked that, I heard a group of boys laughing, accompanied by a great, booming laugh, obviously from an adult.

Kailee and I swung around. Only a few feet away was the group of boys we'd met earlier, but they were with someone else too.

A giant of a man, with a great mane of bushy hair and beard, and tiny black eyes winking out. At first I was rather intimidated, but as they moved closer to us, I saw that he was rather like a big jolly Santa.

James was talking to him as they came towards us, and after a second I realised exactly what they were talking about.

"… the two girls there, the one with black hair and the short one next to her. They're the ones from Australia,"

Finally they were in front of us, and I raised my eyebrow at James.

"'The short one next to her'? Really? Couldn't come up with anything better?"

He looked down at me, grinning. "Sorry, I couldn't say that you have brown hair, he might've thought I was pointing out Mary or Marley," He shrugged, but Marlene had to say something –of course. You know, she reminds me of me a bit… except I'm smarter… And that's why Marlene is now never going to read this!

"I'll have you know, James, that my hair is _blonde_." She even had the audacity to look insulted.

I mean come _on_.

_I'm_ the one he called short!

Not that I care much really, people have been calling me short since I was 14, which was about the time _I_ stopped growing whilst everyone else just kept shooting up, the bastards…

Gah, off topic…

James gave Marlene a sceptical look, mostly aimed at the hair in question -which technically _was_ blonde, just a very very dark shade of blonde… which, in the dark, looks like a light brown.

And really, the whole thing _was_ really just funny.

So I started laughing.

This, of course, got me plenty of odd looks from my new school-mates.

But seriously, I didn't even care at that point; I was just way too amused.

"What? What's so funny?" Marlene was looking particularly annoyed now, either because I was laughing, or because she didn't know why. Maybe both.

"I-it's just, hah, that the way you-you _said that_ was just, hahah, so _serious_!" I answered her, amidst my continuing giggles,

"Oh yes, hardy-har, let's laugh at Marlene because she's 'serious'." Marlene rolled her eyes at me, smirking despite herself. I winced slightly through my laughter and managed to stop after another minute or so, breathing deeply, not even bothering to try and keep a straight face.

I turned to the others, grinning rather stupidly and saying rather loudly, "Well then, we best get to the carriages! Onwards!" I struck a rather ridiculous pose, before marching off. It took me a moment before a paused and slunk back to the others, whispering in Mary's ear "Where is it we're heading exactly?" She rolled her eyes.

"Don't hurt yourself…" Kailee patted the top of my head affectionately and I swiped at her. I heard the boys sniggering behind me and swung round, eyebrow raised.

"I'm sorry if I don't know my way around yet, but I would appreciate it if you would _not_ laugh at me whilst I try to figure it out," Sirius snorted at me, rolling his eyes.

"Oh I'm sorry Skippy, did I offend you? I do apologise." My eyes narrowed at him before I simply huffed and turned away, nose in the air.

"Well, i' was good seein' ya 'gain, boys, but I best be gettin' these Firs' years t' the boats," Hagrid grinned down at them, lifting a dustbin sized hand in farewell before striding off and yelling out, "Firs' years! Come on, Firs' years to me!" A crowd of anxious looking eleven year olds began forming around the giant man, and I couldn't help but giggle at the terrified looks on their faces.

"Come on then newbies, we'll show you the way," Marlene grinned at me and we all set off -waving at the boys over our shoulders- up a trail, where there were masses of students getting into horseless carriages.

At first I did a double take. How on earth would _they_ get up to the school?

Then I saw one of them jolt forward and start rolling smoothly up and as my eyes followed it, mouth hanging open, I spotter the castle.

In short, it was huge.

My eyes probably looked like they belonged on a chameleon as I stared at the place in complete awe.

I was going to live _there_? Maybe mum wasn't so mean after all…

I slowly swivelled my head around to look at Kailee, who was equally as amazed. I saw Mary roll her eyes and Lily sighed.

"Come on you lot, let's just get a carriage…"

We moved towards the gates, and had just started climbing up when we heard a voice behind us.

"Ah, Miss Norman, Miss McMillan!" Me and Kailee swung our heads around and saw a very short wizard standing next to the gates, gesturing for us to go to him. I looked at Lily, who nodded, and grabbed Kailee's arm, moving towards the little teacher, whose eyes twinkled up at us. "Glad you made it here safely girls! I hope your journeys from Australia were good?" We nodded slowly and he beamed. "Good, good! Now, Professor Dumbledore asked me to escort you two up to the castle, after everyone else, so you can get sorted after the First years."

I paled at this and opened my mouth. "Uhm, sir-"

"Professor Flitwick, my dear!"

"Ah, right, Professor Flitwick… Well, me and Kailee were wondering," I glanced at Kailee, who nodded, knowing what I was about to ask, "If maybe we could take the carriage with Lily?"

Professor Flitwick smiled a little sadly and shook his head, "Sorry girls. I'm glad you've made friends already, and I know Miss Evans is very responsible, but I can't. I hope you understand, the Headmaster asked me to take you up to the castle."

I frowned slightly, before nodding, rather dejected knowing I wasn't able to sit and talk with the others for a while longer.

After all the students had gone ahead in the carriages, there was only one left, and we followed the Professor into it, still slightly depressed. After a couple of minutes we stopped and hopped out, staring up at the castle.

It loomed completely over us now, and me and Kailee could only stare up at it, lights shining through windows several floors up. We didn't speak as we made our way inside. We came into an Entrance Hall and heard the sounds of the students in an adjoining room, talking and laughing amongst themselves, and I itched to just be able to sit and blend in with them all, knowing that in a few minutes they would all be staring at me…

I gulped, glancing anxiously at Kailee, who looked as nervous as I felt, but gave me a reassuring smile anyway.

We stood by the doors for a few minutes before the First years came in. A lot of them were staring at us, and whispering to each other before their attention was drawn by a severe looking witch with emerald green robes and a tight bun underneath a pointed hat. She began talking to the First years, but I was too nervous to really pay attention, biting at my lip and shuffling my feet.

Once she finished talking to them, she walked over to me and Kailee.

"Thank you Filius, I can take the girls from here." Flitwick nodded and walked into the hall, and for the brief moment the great oak double doors were open, the noise from inside grew louder. I stared at the doors intently, before looking at the emerald-clad witch in front of us. "Well girls, I'm sure you enjoyed the train ride here?" I looked at her in surprise for a few seconds.

"Well, uhm… I… guess?" I scrunched up my face, wondering what on earth she was talking about, before she let out a small chuckle, and I all-out stared at her.

"You don't need to worry girls. I'm Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House," this got our attention and we straightened up slightly, instantly hoping that we would get into Gryffindor with our new friends. McGonagall smiled before continuing, "I'll be taking the First years in in a moment, and I expect you to walk in after them, am I understood?" We nodded quickly, and I instantly felt my palms start to sweat.

"Good. Well then, I'll be seeing you girls shortly." She strode back to the First years, calling them to order and lead them into the Great Hall, the noise inside quieting slightly at the sight of the eleven year olds. I glanced at Kailee, and we joined on the end of the line, towering over the kids in front of us, and feeling completely out of place as we walked in.

Instantly people began pointing and whispering, staring at myself and Kailee with wide eyes.

Which you know, totally helped.

Pft.

I stared down at my feet as I walked, determined not to look at anyone, when Kailee nudged me in the side.

I looked up at her and she pointed to our right. I turned as we walked and saw, at the far table, Lily, Mary, Marlene and the boys waving and grinning at us, sending thumbs up of encouragement. I felt a little better, sending them a small wave in return, before stopping. I turned my head to look at McGonagall, standing at the front of the Hall, in front of a long table full of teachers, placing a stool on the ground and holding a battered old hat in her hand.

I stared intensely at the thing, trying to send it waves of my need to be sorted into Gryffindor, before McGonagall cleared her throat, and long list in front of her.

She began calling out the names of the little First years, and they all stepped forward, one after the other and got sorted. As the number of eleven year olds in front of us dwindled, me and Kailee edged forwards, knowing there was going to be an announcement for us.

Once the last First year had run off to their new house, McGonagall rolled up her scroll, and looked at Kailee and I, gesturing for us to come forward more. We stopped when we were standing directly in front of her, both fidgeting nervously. She gave us a tight smile before talking to the rest of the students.

"This year we have two transfer students from Australia, Miss Kailee McMillan and Miss Ellie Norman. I hope that all of you welcome them to your school with open arms." The last part seemed almost a threat, and indeed many students were looking rather frightened. "Miss McMillan first, would you please sit on the stool and place the Sorting Hat on your head."

Kailee gulped and nodded, moving forward and turning, sitting down and letting the Hat get put on her head. She jumped slightly when it did, mouth open in shock. After a few short moments, the Hat seemed to make up its mind and screamed out to the Hall 'GRYFFINDOR!" Kailee almost fell off the chair with how quickly she relaxed, letting out a huge breath.

I gave her a small smile as she took off the hat, handing it back to McGonagall, and running down the tables, diving in between Lily and Marlene, grinning at me when she turned back around. I could feel my heart racing as I sat down on the stool, chewing on my lip and gripping the edges of the stool so hard my fingers were turning white. I felt the Hat drop onto my head, and forced back a yelp as it immediately began talking to me.

"_Well well, you're certainly different to your friend… You're fairly cunning, but Muggle-born, so I shouldn't put you in Slytherin…_" I relaxed slightly. One down. "_You're fairly smart too, yes… You could do well in Ravenclaw…_" I tensed again.

No. I wanted to be in Gryffindor.

With Kailee.

"_Gryffindor? Want to be with your friends? Well I suppose…_" My heart soared. I'd be with them! I was going to be in Gryffindor! "_But you really don't have any Gryffindor qualities… No, I think you'd be better off in _HUFFLEPUFF!"

It screamed the last word and I froze.

I could see the students with black and yellow ties and emblems cheer, amazed that they got someone from overseas in their house, but I couldn't hear them. My eyes were wide and I was stiff as a board.

No…

_No._

I immediately began screaming at the hat in my head, begging it to re-sort me, and put me in Gryffindor, with Kailee, who I could see, her whole face screaming how shocked and confused she was, like me.

But the Hat was silent, completely limp on my head before I felt Professor McGonagall lift it off and roll it up. I stared down at my feet.

_Hufflepuff!_

Why was I in _Hufflepuff_?

_WHY?_

My mind was racing, trying to think of something to do; ask to be re-sorted, or apparated back to Australia or even just get up and _move_.

I felt McGonagall's hand on my shoulder and slowly looked up at her. Her lips were drawn in a thin line and she said rather stiffly, "Miss Norman, if you would please join the rest of your house."

I blinked slowly, and stood up, walking to the table and sitting next to one of the newly-sorted First years, not even taking in their appearance.

I stared at my hands, which I'd placed in my lap, as the Headmaster stood up and addressed the students. I didn't listen to any of what he was saying, and when food suddenly appeared in front of me, I didn't move to eat any until the First year next to me nudged me cautiously and asked if I wanted any potato bake.

The irony of it made me laugh, which seemed to scare the kid, who I now realised was a little girl with long blonde hair. I apologised and spooned some of it onto the plate in front of me, picking at it with my fork, occasionally putting some in my mouth and chewing slowly.

To be honest, I wasn't at all hungry, but I figured if I didn't eat, the teachers would notice and say something to me. I sighed and began eating it properly, but only what was on my plate. Just as I finished, the food disappeared and was replaced with desserts of all sorts.

I blinked back my surprise at the little jelly-covered cheesecake that was sitting right in front of me, with about a dozen caramel tarts on a plate behind it.

My favourite desserts.

I laughed again, grabbed the cheesecake and actually ate the whole thing, as well as two of the caramel tarts. As I was licking my fingers clean of crumbs and stray caramel, the desserts disappeared and the Headmaster stood up again. And this time I actually listened to him.

"Well, wasn't that a wonderful feast! I hope you all enjoyed it!" I could have sworn the old man's blue eyes were looking directly at me as he said that. "Now it's time for you all to get into bed and get a good rest for tomorrow! Good Night! Don't let the bed bugs bite!" He waved jovially and I raised my eyebrows.

He was insane.

I mean, yes, I can talk, but seriously.

I stood up with the rest of the students, wondering what the hell I was supposed to do, before a tall, freckled girl my age -from Hufflepuff- came up to me, smiling. "Hey, my name's Andie, Andie Brighton! Welcome to Hufflepuff!" I couldn't help but smile at the girls' enthusiasm, but was rather put off by the huge polka-dotted bow that sat on top of her short, strawberry blonde hair.

"Uhm, hi Andie, I'm Ellie…" She grinned at me, obviously happy I'd responded, before linking her arm through mine.

"Come on, I'll take you to the dormitory, ahead of the First years! They're always so slow!" She seemed to frown at the smaller kids, but grinned again when she spotted another Hufflepuff girl in front of us, who seemed rather put out. "Oh, hey Kira! Look, it's the new girl, Ellie! I'm taking her to the Dorm, wanna come?"

The other girl, Kira, raised her eyebrow and said, "Of course I'm coming you idiot, it's my dorm too!" I blinked a few times, wondering how I'd managed to get caught up in this.

"Oh right! Sorry Ralee!" Andie grinned at her friend, ruffling her hair as she dragged me past.

Kira followed after us, letting out a huge sigh. "Sorry about her, she can get… over excited… And sorry in advance for me. Once I've had some sleep, I'll be as mental as she is…" I blinked at her.

"Uhm… Sorry?"

"Well, I'm dead tired after the train ride, and after eating the amount I did… When I'm not tired, I can act as bad as her, so, I'm sorry. In advance." She yawned after she finished, grimacing slightly. Andie just kept pushing through the other students, humming happily and clinging to my arm like a tick.

I know, not the best simile in the world, but it's true.

"Oh… Well, I guess I should apologise too…" Kira and Andie both looked at me curiously. "Once I've gotten over the fact I'm in Hufflepuff, I'll probably be just as insane…"

"You don't like Hufflepuff?" Andie looked particularly hurt as she knocked over a younger student, wearing a blue and bronze tie, who scowled at her.

"Oh, well… I don't hate Hufflepuff or anything but… I was kinda hoping to get into Gryffindor… With Kailee… We've known each other for years, and she's my best friend so…" I shrugged helplessly.

Kira nodded, thinking for a minute. "Well then," she stated, "It seems like me and Andie will have to convince you that Hufflepuff is _way_ better than Gryffindor!"

I let out a little chuckle, and we were just about to push through the doors when I heard some familiar voices behind me.

"I'm sorry, Travis, but did you just say _Hufflepuff_ is better than _Gryffindor_?" I turned and saw Kailee with all the other Gryffindors I'd met earlier today. Kira glared at James, who was the one who'd spoken.

"Why yes _Potter_ I _did_. And I would find it nice for once if you _didn't_ call me Travis!" Andie looked like she was holding back a laugh, but managed to glare at James as well.

"I don't see why I can't, it _is_ your name," James seemed to give Kira a pointed look, and she scowled.

"Yes. My _last name_." I glanced at her anxiously before saying something.

"Uhm, Kira?" she looked at me, and I continued, "Calm down? You said you're tired…? So let's go," She sighed and nodded, grabbing Andie, who began to protest, but I gave them an I'll-only-be-a-minute look, and she stopped, moving outside the doors. I turned to the others and gave them a sad smile. "Hey." At this, Kailee lunged at me.

"I'm so sorry for not getting into the same house as you! So so _so_ sorry! You're going to be all alone, and I'd hoped me coming here with you would mean you wouldn't be, I'm sorry!" She hugged me tightly as she said all this and I sighed.

"It's not your fault…" She looked up at me, and I gave her another small smile. "And anyway, I don't think I'll be as alone as you seem to think… Kira and Andie seem as crazy as us and the guys back home," Kailee chuckled at this.

"I doubt that…" I gave her a look that clearly said Don't-count-on-it and she rolled her eyes. "Fine, whatever…"

I laughed at her, ruffling her hair, and turned to the others.

Sirius and James immediately made faces and hissed "Traitor!" At me, though they were laughing underneath. I snorted, ignoring them and gave the girls a little grimace. "Sorry Marley, looks like I kinda can't stick with you lot…"

Marlene rubbed the back of her head, smiling sadly, "Yea, I guess not… Bugger."

Lily rolled her eyes, "We'll still talk to you in class, even if you _are_ a Hufflepuff," James and Sirius hissed again, but Remus smacked them both on the back of the head, and they stopped, glaring at him.

I laughed. "I guess I can talk to you guys too, even if you _are_ only Gryffindors." Kailee and Marlene snorted at this, and Kailee ruffled my hair –to my intense displeasure-

"Well Lev, we're gonna head up, because apparently our dormitory is in one of the highest towers…" She grimaced at me and I laughed, giving her a little hug.

"Yea, that's the only thing I'm jealous about with you Hufflepuffs," Sirius said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "You're Dorm is only in the Basement and its right near the kitchens… Plus it's near impossible to get in; I can't tell you how many times I've been covered in vinegar…"

I blinked at him in shock. "Uhm… what?"

He looked up me, smirking. "Oh? They haven't told you? Well then…." He paused for a minute, exchanging a grin with James, before patting me on the shoulder, walking past me towards the doors, "Have fun Skippy!"

James and Sirius both cracked up and walked out the doors, Remus and Peter trailing after them, the former shaking his head. I looked at the others, but they shrugged, not having a clue what they were laughing about.

"See you in class then, Lev…" Kailee said sadly, walking away with the others. I walked through the doors, watching as my friends disappeared up the stairs, and turned to Kira and Andie, who were waiting for me.

"This a-way!" Andie exclaimed, grabbing my arm and dragging me to a door on the other end of the hall, pushing it open and running down the corridor, pulling me and Kira along. I tried to look around as we ran, but didn't get much of a chance to.

Suddenly we stopped and Andie grinned over at me, before leaning against a barrel.

There were a few barrels actually, stacked on top of each other…

And, from the smell of them…

They were filled with…

"Okay, what's with the vinegar?" I was suspicious now, and entirely wary of the barrels, which seemed to just be sitting there, but I knew what was lurking inside them, waiting to be set upon unsuspecting students.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that, just so long as you tap the barrel!"

Andie grinned at me, and I just gave her a dead pan look.

"U-huh… Okay, where is the Sorting Hat kept, I'm not rooming with you."

Andie rolled her eyes at me. "Listen. You want to be covered in vinegar?" I shook my head. "Well good, because if you did, I'd be sincerely worried about your mental health," I rolled my eyes.

Yeah.

_My_ mental health.

Pft.

"So anyway, all you have to do, is tap _this barrel_," she patted the one she was currently leaning against, and I immediately took note of which one it was -two from the bottom, middle of the second row-, "like _this_." Andie bent down and tapped the barrel in the same beat of her saying –in a ridiculously sing-song voice- "Hel-ga Huff-le-puff!"

As soon as she'd tapped it the fifth time, the lid of the barrel fell off, revealing a passageway. I raised my eyebrow. "Okay, I'm impressed…"

"Wait til you see the Common Room!" Andie said excitedly, ducking down and began crawling through the tunnel.

"Uhm, is that safe?" I turned to Kira, who smiled lightly.

"Don't worry, there's no spider webs or anything. But you have to be careful, a few feet in there's a hole," I snorted at this, and crouched down, crawling after Andie and stood up at the end of the little passageway.

"Okay then Andie, what's so exciting about the Common Ro-" I stopped mid-word when I actually saw it.

The room was surprisingly round, earthy and low-ceilinged, with a sunny atmosphere; it seemed very warm and welcoming. There were lots of yellow hangings, burnished copper, and overstuffed sofas and armchairs covered in yellow and black, and circular windows that were charmed to look like rippling grass and dandelions. There were a bunch of interesting looking plants around the room –some of them were dancing and talking- on the windowsills and hanging from the ceiling. There was also a large, honey coloured, wooden mantelpiece with carvings of badgers on it. Above it was a portrait of a plump, kindly looking witch, who must have been Helga Hufflepuff.

I slowly spun around, taking the whole room in with my mouth open.

"It's…" I paused, trying to think up a suitable word, slowly turning back to Andie and Kira, who had just straightened up, dusting herself off. "…it's just… wow."

Kira snorted. "Yea, it's pretty good…" She started moving towards a tunnel to the right of the fireplace, yawning again. "Come on, we'll show you to the Dorm…" I nodded, moving after her and crawled into the tunnel, which was larger than the one leading into the common room, and had several other tunnels branching off it.

We turned into the third on the left and met a completely round door with a copper handle and plaque reading '6th Year Girls'. Kira pushed the door open and crawled through, straightening and letting out a content sigh. I went through the doorway after her, looking around at the four-poster beds covered in patchwork quilts, and the copper lamps and copper bed-warmers hanging on the wall.

There were six beds, and three other girls were already sitting on each of them, chatting absently to each other. They looked up at me, and a tall red-haired girl stood up, walking over with a smile, extending her hand. "Hey, I'm Josey Underhill, the Prefect for our year. It's great to have you in our House," I gave her a small smile back, glancing at the other two girls, one with platinum blonde hair tied over her shoulder in a long plait, the other with black hair just reaching her shoulders.

They smiled at me as well, waving briefly before introducing themselves.

"I'm Faith Newton, nice to meet you," The blonde girl said, looking at her friend.

"I'm Helen Doughty. I'm sorry you had to meet Andie before us, she's probably near scared you away," She cracked a small grin and I laughed, looking at Andie, who was scowling slightly, about to open her mouth in a retort.

"Andie, get over it," Kira said, her voice muffled through blankets, as she'd collapsed onto her bed. Andie huffed and folded her arms across her chest, moving to her own bed.

I rubbed the back of my neck before glancing at the other three girls, who'd gone back to their beds. I looked at the last bed in the room, which was in between Kira and Andie's, and saw my trunk sitting at the end, Rae's cage sitting on top, the small barn owl blinking up at me. I smiled and walked towards her, pulling her out of the cage and going towards the circular window above my new bedside table. I opened it and put my arm out, giving Rae one last scratch before she flew off, circling up into the sky. I looked out the window for a few minutes. The windows seemed to open out on a side of the castle I hadn't seen from the outside, with a view of a cluster of Greenhouses.

I smiled lightly, before shutting the window, turning and climbing onto my new bed, running my hand over the blankets, -which were ridiculously soft- and sighed.

I looked over at Kira, who was already asleep, and Andie, who was sticking a few posters behind her bed, joining at least a dozen others. I sighed again, standing up and walking to my trunk, opening it and pulling out my pyjamas, walking towards a door directly across from the one leading back to the Common Room.

I shut the door behind me and looked around the bathroom with its copper sinks and taps, and a big porcelain bath standing on curled feet and a shower-head hanging above it, yellow and black striped curtains pushed to the side. I got changed, looking at myself in the huge mirror resting above the sink, vines curling around the rims of it and a single bright yellow flower resting at the top.

I pulled my hair into a bun, brushed my teeth and walked back out, met with a snort of laughter.

"You've got zebra-print pyjamas?" Andie was looking at me, a huge grin on her face and obviously holding back laughter. "Where did you even find those?"

I rolled my eyes. "You're just jealous. I got them back in Australia. If you want, I can write to my friends and ask them to buy you a pair next holidays?"

Andie laughed, shaking her head. "I'll think about it,"

I shook my head, reaching into my trunk for this book and a quill, shuffling under the covers of my bed. I started writing this, and have been for close to an hour and my hand is absolutely _killing_ me. Everyone else fell asleep a while ago, so now that I'm done, I don't have anyone to talk to…

I guess I better get to sleep too then; after all, I do have to go to class tomorrow.

And if I don't go, I'm pretty sure Kailee will kill me.

…

I'm also pretty sure Andie's going to jump on me in the morning if I don't get up…

So, I'd better get up before her.

I guess all I can say is…

Welcome to Hogwarts.

**_Authors Note:_**

So, what does everyone think? I'm mostly amazed at how long it is XD

And, if you were wondering, a handful of these characters are based on me and my actual friends, and I will probably add a few more in different houses so... If I know you and you're reading this, I hope I captured you properly! :D

Review?


	2. Of Hobbits and Prefects

_Quick note before you get started; YES! A REAL UPDATE! HUZZAHH! and a disclaimer; I do not own Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings or The Silver Brumby. These are all relevant in this chapter, but they each belong respectively to JK Rowling, JRR Tolkien and Elyne Mitchell :)_**  
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**Chapter 2: Of Hobbits and Prefects**

"I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it."

-Jack Handey

**Date: Tuesday, September 2****nd****  
>Time: 8am<br>Location: Hufflepuff Common Room**

I was right.

About Andie, I mean.

I woke up this morning to a knee in the gut and elbow to the head.

"Ow _fuck_- what the- Andie! Geter_off_!"

"Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you, I'm sorry!" She quickly jumped off my bed, leaning against it instead as I leaned over in pain, clutching at my stomach with one hand and nose with the other.

"Just, don't do that. Please." She nodded, looking truly sorry as I peeled my blankets off, putting my feet on the ground and standing up shakily. "Wha' time s'it anyway?" I mumbled, still clutching my throbbing nose.

"Seven thirty…" I heard Kira say as she walked into the dormitory, closing the bathroom door behind her and brushing her short, damp hair. I groaned and slumped into the bathroom myself, having a shower and completing other such early-morning rituals.

I walked back out, wearing the school shirt and vest, my pleated skirt reaching halfway up my thighs and feet so far bare. I dove into my trunk, pulling out a pair knee-length white socks. I stared at them in thought for a few moments before shrugging to myself, grabbing my wand from my bedside table and pointing it at my socks, muttering a spell. When the white changed to yellow, I held them up and Andie came over, smiling appreciatively at them before I pulled them on.

I shuffled through my shoes before pulling out a pair of black flats, pulling them on and turning to Andie, who looked at me thoughtfully for a moment.

"Hm… Just wait a sec…" She grabbed the Hufflepuff tie that had been sitting on my bed and fixed it around my neck, and then scrounged in her own trunk, pulling out a bright yellow ribbon. "Can I?" I shrugged and she tied it in my hair, leaving my side-fringe loose at the front. She tied it in a huge bow on top of my head and grinned as she stepped back, admiring her work.

I turned and looked at the mirror hanging in the dorm. Overall everything looked very…

Hufflepuffy.

"Honestly, the ribbon is a bit much Andie," I gave her a sceptical look and she snorted. "I appreciate the help but seriously, I don't think I can rock ribbons like you" She gave a small glare but shrugged nonetheless, pulling the ribbon back out of my hair.

"Oh yea, I guess that looks a bit better…" Andie said, nodding, "You never would look as fantastic as me with the ribbon though," I snorted.

"Yeah, arm warmers are more my thing…" I walked back to my trunk and pulled out –yes, really- a pair of stripy arm warmers. Andie actually had the decency to _try_ and stifle her laughter. "Oh shut up, these things are fantastic," Andie held up her hands and said nothing as I pulled them on, sadly satisfied with how they looked.

"Honestly, I don't think I've ever spent that long getting dressed," I said jokingly, moving to my trunk and pulling out my black shoulder bag, filling it with quills and parchment. I quickly rolled up the sleeves of my shirt, stuffing my wand up one of them and looked at Andie, who was dressed similarly to myself, without the gloves and stockings instead of socks, with the front of her shirt sticking out from her vest, another huge bow perched on top of her head, this one bright green.

I raised my eyebrow at the bow and she rolled her eyes. "It's my favourite colour! And it's not like it's the ugly Slytherin green…" She scrunched up her nose at the thought before she ducked down, grabbing her wand and sticking it behind her ear. My other eyebrow shot up at this and she frowned at me. "What? I always put it like this!"

"You could seriously hurt yourself with that…"

"I've been trying to tell her that since we were eleven, Ellie, it's not gonna work on her now," I heard Kira say as she finished putting on her tie. She was wearing long black pants instead of a skirt, and had a small blue bow pushing back one side of her hair. I shook my head and sighed.

Now that I think about it, I honestly don't think I've ever spent that much time thinking, let alone _writing_ about getting dressed.

Weird…

Anyway, back to what we were saying!

"Well, I guess I can get used to it, but she better not complain to me if she curses her ear off," Kira laughed at that, and we all had one last look in the mirror each –I swear, I never used to be this vain!- before making our way down to the Common Room, where we have now been sitting for 15 minutes, waiting for more people to wake up before we go up to breakfast.

Oh and would you look at that! A group of boys Andie says are in our year just appeared! What luck!

**Date: Same  
>Time: 8.45am<br>Location: Girls Dormitory**

After Andie introduced me to the boys -who seemed eager to meet me- we made our way to the Great Hall with them.

"So, Ellie," A tall dark haired boy named Adam Bones began, "What's it like in Australia? I've always wanted to go there," I smiled at him, still rather shocked at having so many people interested in talking to me.

"It's hot. Especially where my old school was," they looked at me questioningly before I explained, "We pretty much were in the middle of the desert. The school was in the centre of an oasis though, so there was a huge dam we could swim in if it got too hot, but there are holidays every 10 weeks, and our longest one was the Christmas holidays, which is in Summer, so I guess we're pretty lucky in that sense…"

They all looked pretty amazed at this fact, and another boy, shorter than Adam, with light brown hair, whose name was Jeremy Ingles stated, "I don't think I'd be able to stand that. How did you even get to the school?"

"Oh we had a train too. A lot different to the Hogwarts Express, mind you… It's pretty much just a coal train, on the outside at least. On the inside, the compartments are all huge, and there're fans all along the roof, and there's a fridge in each one, full of different snacks and drinks and such… Pretty cool really, it just looked crappy from the outside,"

They all laughed and I mentally gave myself a pat on the back. I may have only known them for a few minutes, but we were getting along pretty well.

"How big was the actual school? And what sort of sport did you play? Were there houses the same as us?" The last boy, shorter than the other two, -and even me- with dark brown hair, Gordon Spinnet, started spurting out questions, and I blinked, trying to think how to answer him.

"Uhm… Well, it wasn't as big as Hogwarts, and it looked a lot more modern, obviously. It had the main building with all the classrooms and canteen –we didn't have to pay though, obviously- and out the front was a huge quad with tables, and a huge old gum tree in the middle… It was all paved too, but there was plenty of grass around the school, only the dam had sand around the edge, so it was almost like a beach… I don't know how the grass was there… Well, magic obviously, but still, we _were_ in the middle of the desert…" I paused for a bit. "On opposite ends of the quads were a bunch of cabins that we all lived in. The girls were all on the left, and boys on the right, and the teachers had cabins behind the main building, but we weren't allowed near them…" I stopped and took a breath, satisfied with my answer for the first question, before beginning the next.

"I didn't play much of the sports, I'm not really a very active person, so to speak, but there were plenty. There were plenty of Muggle sports like Rugby and Cricket, and there were a couple of Quidditch teams, but sometimes there were flying races… I will admit I went in those a few times, just for the hell of it… I kicked arse too, surprisingly," I grinned at them and they laughed again, "A few of the older boys played Quodpot sometimes too… No idea why, I honestly reckon it's stupid, but whatever," I shrugged, finally getting to his last question.

"We sort of had houses, but it was mostly just for when we had Sports carnivals, which were like, a whole day of different sports, every couple of months, and at the end of the year the winners got a trophy and whole day off classes… We didn't get points given or taken off in class though…" I shrugged. "That's pretty much it really."

They were quiet for a minute before Gordon smiled. "Cool. I wish I could see it." I laughed as we walked into the Great Hall, sitting down about halfway down the Hufflepuff table. I glanced quickly along the Gryffindor table and saw Kailee talking to Marlene, James and Sirius, while Lily, Mary, Remus and Peter ate their breakfast in relative silence.

I gave them all a small wave before turning back to the Hufflepuffs. Kira and Andie sat on either side of me -to the boys' disappointment, which made me rather flustered- and each started piling food on their plates.

I thought to myself for a moment, considering everything in front of me. I ended up just shrugging, grabbing a handful of pancakes, covered them with maple syrup and shovelled them into my mouth.

Like a lady of course.

I _was_ in company.

Pft.

"So Ellie," I glanced up at Adam, who was chewing on a piece of toast, "When you say you 'kicked arse' in those… Flying races?" He paused and I nodded, "So you know how to fly? Fast?" I rolled my eyes.

"Do you not get the 'kicked arse' part?" Andie snorted appreciatively, but Adam continued.

"Did you ever _try_ playing Quidditch? I'm on the House team –Keeper- and a couple of our best players left at the end of last year, so we kinda need new recruits." I snorted.

"I never really bothered with Quidditch. I was happy just flying, and the rules seemed too complicated at the time… I'm sure I could give it a go if you asked nicely though," I gave him a mild smirk and he grinned.

"Well then, if I teach you the rules of Quidditch, would you kindly try out for the team? If it doesn't take up much of your busy schedule, that is,"

I laughed lightly, trying to put on a serious face before I said in an offhanded voice, "I guess I can pencil you in…" We all laughed for a bit, eating some more and talking about completely irrelevant stuff.

Once we'd finished, the Hall had filled up a great deal more, and all the Heads of Houses had started handing out timetables. We all walked up to our Head of House, Professor Sprout, who smiled at me happily.

"So this is our new student! I hope you're getting along well with everyone?" I nodded, looking at my new friends as they looked over their new timetables and comparing each other's, "So then, you're taking Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes?" I nodded, and she tapped her wand against the blank parchment, which immediately filled up with the times, places and teachers of all of my classes, handing it to me. "Here you go dear, have fun!" She smiled before moving on to a group of second years.

I turned around to my new group, staring at what I had today.

Transfiguration, Runes, lunch break, Potions and a free…

"Oh look Ralee, Ellie's doing Runes too! And Potions!" I felt my timetable get snatched out of my hand and blinked, looking up at Andie. "Hmm, we've got Charms too, but we're doing Herbology, not Transfiguration… And Divination, not Creatures…"

"That's great Andie, give the girl her timetable back, she looks like a lost puppy," I shot Kira a grateful glance as I was reluctantly handed back my timetable. I looked at the boys, who grinned at me and said together, "To Transfiguration!"

I laughed and complied when Adam and Jeremy each grabbed an arm and started pulling me away.

That is until Kira stopped them.

"There's still twenty minutes til class starts guys. And besides, we need to get our books first." They stopped, looking put out, letting go of my arms and instead walked behind Kira, Andie and myself as we made our way back to the Common Room, fetching our bags, now full of our books for the day, and sat on the chairs in the Common room, waiting until closer to the bell, so I of course started writing in here.

Kira and Andie have a free first, so I'm going to be heading to class with the boys in a minute…

This is going to be an interesting day.

**Date: Same  
>Time: Later<br>Location: Runes Classroom**

I was dragged to Transfiguration, by the boys, as expected, and we walked in just as the bell rang. I sat at a table with Adam, while Gordon and Jeremy sat in front of us, occasionally shooting Adam filthy looks -that they didn't know I was noticing- to which he just responded with a triumphant smirk.

I rolled my eyes, hoping my face wasn't as red as it felt.

Professor McGonagall called out the role, stopping when she got to me and welcomed me to the school –again- and to her class and that she hoped I enjoyed my time in it. I simply sunk slightly in my chair, nodding and smiling at the severe looking witch, wishing that she hadn't drawn even more attention to me.

I mean, it was bad enough sitting with a boy I'd pretty much just met who was so obviously pining over me, when Kailee was sitting on the other side of the classroom next to Marlene, sending me sympathetic looks –she'd had the same response when McGonagall had marked her off.

That first lesson was fairly basic, just revision of a few spells we'd already learnt –it seemed that the curriculum was almost exactly the same as in Australia for the main subjects- and I copied down a few notes, occasionally chatting with Adam. When the bell rang, Adam and Jeremy left for Arithmancy and Gordon had a free, so I waved them goodbye before running to catch up with Kailee.

She grinned at me, looking down at my socks.

"I see you're fitting in well," I rolled my eyes.

"Yellow is easier to work with my favourite colour than red, so I'm happy," She snorted, looking at my arm warmers and shook her head.

"Honestly, you and arm warmers…"

I grinned at her, looking at the other Gryffindors.

"It really is a pity you're not with us, Ellie," Mary said, giving me a small smile, while Lily nodded in agreement. The boys snorted.

"If the Hat put her in _Hufflepuff_, then she obviously wasn't fit to be a lion," Sirius said rather pompously, and I shot him a glare.

"Bitch please," I scoffed and he raised his eyebrow at me, "Badgers are so much cooler than lions."

Remus laughed. "Although I don't agree with you, being a proud Gryffindor and such," he smirked at me, "That _was_ a pretty good comeback,"

"Moony," James stated to his scarred friend, "You are officially disowned. Despite your comment about Gryffindor pride, you complimented an insult to your house,"

Remus rolled his eyes while Sirius nodded his head in agreement, Peter simply shaking his head at them. "You'll come crawling back to me soon enough Prongs, no-one else will help you with your homework,"

James frowned. "But you _don't_. Not unless we leave it til the last minute…"

Sirius interrupted him, "But Prongs, we _always_ leave it til the last minute,"

James seemed to brighten up at that. "Oh yeah! Well then Moony, until we have homework that needs to be done, Padfoot and I have disowned you!" They both seemed rather pleased with themselves.

Remus shook his head, smiling lightly at them, while I just looked on in confusion, before turning to Marlene.

"Are they always like this?"

She nodded. "Sadly, yes… You get used to it, but since you won't be around them as much…" she shrugged.

Kailee suddenly looked very sad, and I frowned at her. "What's wrong?"

"I just…" She paused, "I wish you were in Gryffindor… It's not the same without you Lev,"

I smiled sadly at her.

"I wish I was too, and trust me, I asked that stupid Hat to put me with you, but apparently I don't have any Gryffindor qualities or something…" I shrugged, "Whatever, I don't really mind Hufflepuff, the Common Room is beautiful…" Kailee looked up at this and even the boys seemed to perk their ears.

"What does it look like?" Lily asked, "I've always wanted to know,"

"Forget that, tell us how to get in!" Sirius exclaimed, making me scowl at him.

"As if I'm going to tell you!" I turned my head back to the girls as we started up a flight of stairs, "It's completely circular, and has a whole bunch of windows with grass, and there are plants everywhere. And god, the _bath_." I sighed just at the memory. "It was one of those ones with the feet, and it's so deep and it's just gorgeous…"

"Wow, sounds pretty cool," Kailee said, but James frowned.

"Why are you getting excited over a _bath_?"

I sighed, shaking my head, not even bothering to explain the intricacies of fine bathing facilities.

Wow. I feel proud of myself for writing that down.

How horrid.

We made it to the top of the stairs and I asked quickly, "What have you all got right now? I have Ancient Runes and I have no idea where to go."

Lily smiled, "Don't worry, I'm in your class, but this lot are doing Muggle Studies,"

"Actually," Remus interrupted, "Mary and I have Arithmancy, so we're leaving you here," Mary nodded, waving to us as the turned down a separate corridor, beginning a small conversation with each other as they walked away.

Marlene blinked. "Well. Muggle studies is just up the end of this corridor so… See ya Lil, Ellie!" they all waved to us as well, as I followed Lily up the next flight of stairs, turning into the first classroom we came to, taking a seat in the middle of the room, in the table next to Kira and Andie, who waved happily at me.

A tall skinny wizard with thick glasses and dark balding hair introduced himself to the class, "I am Professor Oddno, and welcome to Ancient Runes," He pushed his glasses up his nose before continuing, "I hope that everyone in this class is competent enough to understand the fine art of Runes," I blinked at him.

Was he serious?

_The fine art of Runes_?

Righteo then…

A few of the people in the class looked as weirded out as I felt, but the teacher seemed oblivious.

"Now, some of you may object to what I am about to say, but I think you will all work better if I put you in a Seating Plan," he was immediately met with protests from a good fraction of the class, but spoke over the top of them. "It has already been decided and you cannot get out of it. Now, we'll be going alphabetically," He picked up the roll and went along, pointing to each seat.

Andie sat down first next to a red-haired boy from Gryffindor named 'Cameron', and Lily sat with 'Davidson', from Ravenclaw. After more than half the class was sitting I heard the teacher call out, "Nichols, Norman, there." and pointed to the table on the far left in the third row. I made my way to the seat, glancing back at Kira, who had started grinning so widely she could have rivalled the Cheshire Cat. I frowned and sat down, still staring at her, until she motioned for me to turn around.

I kept my brow furrowed as I turned and looked at who I'd just sat next to, and I immediately found it incredibly hard not to stare.

The boy I was sitting next to had short curly light-brown hair and hazel eyes. He was putting his stuff on his desk carefully, and I stared at the tanned skin on his arms.

He was possibly the cutest boy I had ever seen.

There was just no other word for it.

No other boy I had met had skin _that _untouched. He didn't have any sort of acne problems, or freckles or _anything_.

Not that I was staring.

Pft.

What do you take me for? Some kind of pervert.

No.

Definitely not.

I noticed a minute later that he was a Hufflepuff and immediately did a dance in my head.

How had I not seen him already?

It took me a moment to realise that he'd turned to face me, eyebrow raised and lips quirked slightly.

"Yes?" He asked, obviously realising I'd been gazing at him for some time, and I immediately snapped my eyes away from his, feeling myself blush.

"O-oh! Sorry, it's just… Uhm… you… you're a H-Hufflepuff too, and… uhm… hi?" I ended awkwardly, cringing slightly and wishing I could just smash my face against the desk then and there.

But he just smiled wider at me, replying with an amused tone, "Hi there. You're Ellie right? From Australia?" I nodded slowly, not trusting myself to talk, "I'm Blake. It's great to finally meet you!" He held a hand out to me and I stared at it for a second before grabbing it and shaking it slowly, not really wanting to let go…

I looked back up at him, putting my hands on the desk in front of me and chewing on my lip, feeling the blush spread more over my face. His accent had pretty much rendered me speechless.

I mean, sure, everyone else I'd met was extremely British, but Blake was almost _gracefully_ so, with the slightest hint of an Irish accent.

It was ridiculously, well… hot.

Blake seemed to find this even more amusing and grinned at me, "I'm not going to bite, you know," my eyes widened and I ducked my head, feeling the red reach my neck. He chuckled, and I only just realised that the rest of the class was sitting down. I swivelled my head to find Kira, and saw her at the back table next to a bored-looking Slytherin boy.

I glared slightly when I saw she was still grinning but mouthed to her, 'Oh. My. GOD.' which just made her grin even wider –how is that even possible?

I cracked a small grin myself before turning back around, hearing the teacher start talking. He hasn't asked us to write down any notes, so I've just been sitting here writing this for the most of the lesson, occasionally glancing at Blake and blushing whenever I found him glancing back and smiling.

I _reaallyyyy_ think I'm going to enjoy this class…

**Date: Same  
>Time: A few minutes<br>Location: Same**

I swear Blake just brushed arms with me.

On purpose.

Because there's no way he could've dropped his quill when we weren't even writing –well, he wasn't.

And he looked at me when he sat back up too, and smiled.

I think I'm going to melt…

**Date: Same  
>Time: Later<br>Location: Hufflepuff Common Room**

As soon as the bell rang, I stuffed my books and parchment into my bag and stood up, marching straight up to Kira and Andie and hissed at them.

"Can one of you tell me _why_ exactly you didn't mention the ridiculously handsome part-Irish boy in our year, who happen to be a _Hufflepuff_ and who I happen to have to sit next to for the next _year_?"

They both had completely unconvincing looks of innocence on their faces as they spoke in turn.

"What? Who are you talking about? I don't know any part-Irish boys in our year, do _you_, Andie?"

"No, I can't say I do, Ralee… You don't think she could mean Blake?"

"Blake, you say? Kinda short? Curly hair? Devilishly handsome?"

"Yeah, that's the one. Do you think _that's_ who she means?"

"I dunno, think we should ask?"

"Oh my _god_!" I finally burst out and several passers-by looked at me in shock. I ducked my head and glared at the two who only grinned wider. "Yes, I mean _Blake_! My god! Do you both have to talk so loud though?"

"This coming from the girl who just shouted in the middle of the Entrance Hall?"

"Shut _up_!"

"Calm your farm woman, we're teasing!" Andie laughed at me and I scowled at her. "Come along, let's get something to eat,"

"Do you plan on actually eating your sandwiches this year, Andie, or just throwing them at random first years whilst shouting 'you are a sexual lobster!'?" Kira raised an eyebrow at the blonde girl who stopped and blinked, a huge grin slowly spreading across her freckled face.

"You know, I'd actually completely forgotten I did that. Thank you so _very_ much for reminding me," Kira groaned as Andie skipped into the Great Hall ahead of them, and just as the giant oak doors started shutting after her they could hear her loud and clear.

"_You_ dearest Ravenclaw first year, are an _extremely_ sexual lobster! Here, have a sandwich for your troubles!"

I gaped after her and turned to look at Kira who was shaking her head, grinning despite herself. "Well then Ellie, we best get in there and help her!"

"Help her to a psychiatrist or…?"

Kira simply grinned at me before grabbing my arm and dragging me into the Great Hall.

Andie was halfway down the Hufflepuff table, and was grinning and waving at a tiny, blushing first year with lettuce in his hair.

"Oh dear _lord_ what did I get myself into?"

Kira shrugged. "Well, think of it this way; you coulda ended up with us, the completely mental Hufflepuff girls who will do just about anything to get a rise out of just about anyone, or you could have been in Gryffindor with the Marauders and their constant pranks, most likely on _you_,"

I tilted my head.

"I'm honestly not sure which is worse…"

Kira shoved me and I laughed softly.

"You'll come to be just as insane as us, don't you worry,"

"Oh I'm not worried about _me_, I'm worried about the rest of the Hogwarts population. Lord knows they get enough crap from you pair and the Marauders, let alone _me_,"

"Someone's full of themselves," I swung around and saw James and Sirius grinning at me.

"Travis," James inclined his head to Kira who rolled her eyes.

"Potter, fancy seeing you here,"

"Well it _is_ lunch,"

"I would've expected you to be in the kitchens, actually,"

"Really? I was just thinking the same about you. You know, considering your Common Room is closer and all,"

"Funny, really,"

"Whoa, hey, why all the hate?" I joked and Kira shoved me again.

"Well it really _was_ lovely seeing you, ladies, but we must be off. Prongs and I have a certain date with a pair of beautiful individuals which we cannot miss,"

"And would these 'beautiful individuals' happen to be covered in chicken grease?"

I snorted and Sirius smirked slightly at her.

"I hardly think McMillan or Evans would enjoy being covered in chicken grease, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask,"

My eyes went wide at that and I spluttered.

"W-wait, what? McMillan? You can't mean _Kailee_ can you?"

"Do you have a problem with that?" Sirius raised an eyebrow at me and a glared slightly.

"Of course not, unless you're doing it just to _use her_. I hardly thought Kailee would be your type,"

"And how would _you_ know _my_ type?" Sirius' eyes were narrowed almost as much as mine now.

"You just look like the kind of guy who thinks he's above people like Kailee or myself. So I swear, if you do anything –_anything._ To hurt her, you will find yourself with less appendages than you would like,"

I sent one threatening glance downwards and he did look at least _somewhat_ alarmed at my not-so-subtle warning.

"What the hell do you take me for, Norman, some kind of womanizer?"

"Black, you _know_ that's exactly what you are," Kira interjected, "Now come on Ellie, before you actually snap and crack one of his nuts,"

Kira grabbed my arm and quickly turned me around and away from the two boys.

Now that I think about it, James had actually been silent after Sirius had mentioned Lily…

Huh.

Odd.

Anyway, we finally arrived next to Andie, who had an eyebrow raised at me.

"What was that all about?"

"What was _what_ all about?" I muttered, sitting down next to her as Kira sat on her other side.

"Umm, your argument with Black? Most of the Great Hall noticed that little spat. Care to explain?"

I sunk my face into my hands and groaned.

Just _great_. First day of school and there was probably a dozen or two people gossiping about my argument with Sirius.

Fantastic.

I was just about to lift my head and begin to wearily explain it to Andie when I felt a tap on my left shoulder.

I snapped my head up that way and my eyes widened when I saw Blake.

"Hey, mind if I sit here?"

"U-uhh, no, n-no no, not at all!"

He grinned at me and sat, and I felt myself blush, skin tingling when his arm brushed against mine.

Kira and Andie grinned widely at me, and I scowled at them, trying to look anywhere but at Blake. The other girls from our dorm exchanged looks, but I swear Josey, the red-headed Prefect actually _glared_ at me.

I mean seriously.

She was perfectly cheerful last night.

What did I do?

Oh… I glanced at Blake, who had started talking to a Seventh year on his other side, and glanced back at Josey, raising an eyebrow.

Her glare seemed to darken and she turned to Faith and Helen, whispering angrily, and they began shooting me looks as well.

I groaned internally and nudged Andie, who looked at me questioningly.

"Does she like Blake or something?" I whispered to her, tilting my head slightly towards Josey and Andie glanced at her then back at me, nodding.

"They're both Prefects, and apparently she's always trying to get rounds with him, but he is so not interested it's almost _painful_," I smirked slightly, glancing at Blake again, who was now talking about Quidditch to Adam and a Fifth year girl with a high ponytail.

So he's Quidditch Captain _and_ a Prefect.

And he's been talking to _me_.

"What makes it worse," Kira whispered as she leaned across to grab a chicken sandwich, "is that she is so thick she doesn't even realise he's not interested," I raised my eyebrows, biting into my own sandwich and chewing thoughtfully.

"Seems Hufflepuff isn't as nice as the Sorting Hat made it out to be…" I muttered, glancing at the other girls again, who had just stood up and started walking away briskly, making Andie snort with laughter.

"We're not perfect, if that's what you mean," Kira said, talking louder now that the others had disappeared and I nodded, glancing around at the rest of the Hall.

Suddenly I felt Blake's hand on my arm and I jolted as he pretty much dragged me into the conversation he was having.

"Ellie didn't you say that you know how to fly?" He looked at me questioningly, smiling again, and I blushed, nodding.

"Y-yeah, but uhm, how did you find out? I didn't say anything about flying to you, did I?"

"Oh, well, I do kinda share a dorm with Adam, Jeremy and Gordon so…"

"Oh, right. Well yea, I kinda do, I suppose…"

"Do you think you'd want to try out for the Quidditch team then?"

My eyes widened ridiculously at this.

"W-what? U-uhm, I don't –I don't know how to play Quidditch –I would be so bad at it –oh god, uhm… no?"

I felt awful when his face fell, but I really hadn't ever played Quidditch before, and I did not want to embarrass myself in front of Blake.

"Oh… That's too bad, I reckon you've got a good Seeker's build… Not that we need a new Seeker, Diggs is pretty awesome, but we need some new Chasers, don't we Tiff?" The ponytailed girl nodded.

"So you're _not _trying out?" I nodded, still completely aware of Blake's hand, which he hadn't removed from my arm yet.

"Well, I would maybe like to but… like I said, I really don't know how to play so-" Blake cut me off.

"I could teach you!"

I blushed and opened my mouth to try and say something, but nothing really came out for a few moments.

"Oh, I –t-that's really sweet Blake but… I think it might just be best if I settle into the school before I –yeah… uhm…"

I nervously tucked a lock of hair behind my ear and then glanced down at my hands.

"Hey, yeah, that's fine." I looked up at Blake, a little surprised. "There's always next year, right?"

I bit my lip and nodded, looking down again.

The blonde girl spoke again, "Well, we will be needing people next year, so I guess this is all fine. I'm Tiffany by the way, Tiffany Duke." I smiled at her, a little thankfully.

"I'm Ellie," She nodded at me.

"Yes I know, Blake did tell me," She raised an eyebrow at the boy in question who simply shrugged.

"Oh…" I said, blushing again, "Well, uhm… I… I think I might go and get my books for my next class, is that okay?"

"We're not going to stop you Ellie," Kira said, still grinning at me, even as she bit down on a piece of chicken.

Which probably should have looked disgusting but was mostly just rather hilarious.

I stifled a laugh and smiled at her, then Andie before I stood up, grabbing my book bag and waving at them, then Tiffany and Blake, who gave me a small smile.

Of course, this was all just a lie. I'd gotten all my books for the day this morning, and I was fairly certain Kira and Andie knew this, but they –thank _god_- didn't say anything.

Really starting to think they're going to be really good friends.

**Date: Same  
>Time: Much later<br>Location: Girls dorm**

Well…

That was…

Hm…

Okay…

I walked to Potions by myself, after writing down my last entry, and found most of the class already in.

Kira and Andie sitting at the back, and one of the only few seats left was next to Blake, one seat in front of them. I frowned, shuffling into the chair next to the curly-haired boy –as there was no way I was going to sit next to the pale-skinned, sour-faced Slytherin or the Ravenclaw boy who wiped snot off his nose every other second-, blushing as Blake smiled at me.

I saw Kailee across the room, sitting with Lily, the four Gryffindor boys behind them, and she raised her eyebrow at me. I just blushed and shrugged in response, pulling out my books as the teacher came in.

He was a large man, balding with a huge handlebar moustache. The buttons on his coat seemed to be on the verge of bursting, and he was grinning around at the students happily.

"Welcome to Potions! It's great to see you all passed your OWLs, and we have two new students as well!" Me and Kailee immediately ducked our heads, causing the teacher to chuckle, "It's alright girls, it's alright. If you don't know already, I am Professor Slughorn, and I hope you will both do well in this class!"

We nodded, thoroughly embarrassed, as he continued on, writing a few notes up on the board which we copied, before he dismissed us twenty minutes early.

We were all rather shocked, but gathered our stuff without protest, making our way back to our separate dormitories. I waved to Kailee as she started up the staircases to Gryffindor Tower, and went to walk to the Basement with my fellow Hufflepuffs before I felt a now rather familiar hand stop me.

I looked at Blake questioningly, slightly pink, and he smiled at me, –he really does that a lot, doesn't he?- "Hey can I talk to you for a minute?" I nodded slowly, glancing at Kira and Andie who had stopped to look. When they saw me looking at them, they grinned and continued to the Common Room. I sighed and looked back at Blake.

"What's up?"

"Well," he began, "I was wondering, if maybe you wanted me to teach you how to play Quidditch, while we have a free," I blinked, letting my brain process for a minute before questioning him.

"What, like… now?" He nodded, grinning slowly as my blush darkened. "Uhm… well, I dunno… it kinda feels a bit…" I fidgeted slightly and he frowned.

"Well, you don't have to if you don't want to," He gave me another small smile. "We could just hang out if you want?"

My eyes popped and my face flushed.

"W-what? Like... Like now?"

"No, I thought we should wait until Christmas," He smirked a little and I ducked my head. "Come on, I can show you around the grounds,"

I was quiet for a moment, considering this.

Possibly the cutest boy in the school was offering to show me around the grounds. With _no-one else there_.

I didn't know whether or not to jump up and down squealing or run and hide.

But, I figured after a minute, what harm could it do?

"Okay,"

"Okay?"

"Mhmm,"

"Awesome! Well, I think we should get changed first, it looks a bit too hot outside to be wearing robes so…"

"Okay, sure,"

"Meet you back down here in five?"

(By that time we had actually made it to the Common Room, of course.)

I nodded and climbed through to the girl's dorms.

Andie looked up as I walked in, grinning when she saw me.

"So…" Kira said, shuffling to the end of her bed as I walked past her, shuffling around my trunk, "What did Blake want?" She grinned at me as well, and I scowled at the pair of them, pulling out a pair of three quarter pants, staring at them for a minute before tossing them over my shoulder.

"He's going to show me around the grounds," I answered off-handedly, grabbing a pair of light blue skinny jeans, considering them before chucking them on top of the other pair, scrounging further into my clothes.

"What, just the two of you? Now?" Andie exclaimed, the shock evident in her voice. I nodded, finally finding suitable pants –a darker pair of skinny jeans, my favourite pair- and hung them around my shoulders, now digging for a shirt. "Wow… He must like you," I glanced at her, glaring slightly.

"That's stupid, he's only known me a couple of hours," I turned back, switching my gaze between two different shirts, a red flano and a purple, collared t-shirt.

"Well," Kira said slowly, "He's known every other girl in our year since we were eleven, and he hasn't smiled at any of us the amount he's smiled at you -_ever_." I stopped at that.

So he normally _doesn't_ smile that much?

…

Hm…

"Well, I find it ridiculous that you think he likes me…" I went for the flano and stood up, marching to the bathroom, getting changed and marching back out a minute later, looking at myself in the mirror, nodding to myself. Andie snorted at me.

"Yes well, we're not gonna say we told you so…" I glared at her, walking towards the door and calling over my shoulder to them.

"See you when I get back!" I heard them snicker as I shut the door and rolled my eyes, crawling back out into the Common Room. I spotted Blake leaning against the wall near the entrance, wearing a light blue t-shirt and jeans, holding a small stack of books.

"What are those for?" I gestured to the books.

"Oh, figured we could do a bit of light reading while we're out there in the sun. While it's still sunny…" and he held them out so I could see.

"Wow, _Lord of the Rings_? You call that light reading?"

"What, don't you like _Lord of the Rings_?"

"No no, I just didn't think you would even _know_ _Lord of The Rings_. They're kind of super-muggle…"

"It's about Hobbits, Elves, Dwarves and Orcs. Not to mention Gandalf."

"Yes, but it's still a very muggle story. Like, Gandalf is awesome and everything, but he's kinda nothing like an _actual_ wizard,"

"I dunno, he's always reminded me of Professor Dumbledore,"

I couldn't help but laugh at that.

"Okay, fair enough." He grinned at me. "So, are we going or not?"

He laughed and gestured for me to go ahead of him.

We didn't talk much as we walked into the Entrance Hall and heard the bell ring, signaling the start of our free. Only after we'd walked out through the huge front doors and onto the courtyard there did he talk.

"So wait. You've actually read _Lord of the Rings_?"

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Of course I have,"

"Huh," was all he said and I frowned.

"What? It's nowhere near as shocking as _you_ reading them… unless you're actually a Muggle-born too. Oh god, you are aren't you? Wow I'm stupid, sorry-"

"No, hey, it's okay. And I'm not actually. My mum's a Muggle, but dad's a Wizard. Pretty sure he's actually a Half-blood, but whatever. And anyway, I've always loved reading Muggle books, especially fantasy ones. Even though, yes, some of the wizard characters are fairly inaccurate, but what would be the fun in that? There are plenty of Wizard stories about Muggles that are _phenomenally_ inaccurate,"

I snorted at that. "True… Still not seeing how _me_ reading _Lord of the Rings_ is weird though,"

Blake laughed softly. "It's mostly because all of the girls at this school who have actually read Muggle books have mostly read like, old love stories. Like, _Romeo and Juliet_, _Pride and Prejudi_ce, or _Jane Eyre_,"

I was quiet for a moment, processing this.

He did have a fair point.

(Although I really do actually love Shakespeare, but not so much Romeo and Juliet. That one I just find depressing.)

"Okay so I'm not sure whether I should say that Shakespeare isn't that bad, or be worried about the fact that you know all of those books,"

Blake laughed again. "My mum worships them, hard not to know them,"

"Ah, makes sense… My mum's the same, really, but not so much those books. She's absolutely in _love_ with _The Silver Brumby_," when Blake frowned I explained "Australian book about wild horses. It was written around the same time as _Lord of the Rings_, actually… and to be honest, I did really love it when I was younger, but then I found _Lord of the Rings_ and, well…" I shrugged.

Not really kidding though.

I probably read _The Silver Brumby_ twenty times between ages seven and ten.

I found _Lord of the Rings_ when I was browsing the school's library back in primary school.

Before I knew I was a witch, of course.

"_Lord of the Rings_ is epic. No-one would be able to resist it,"

"No-one meaning everyone but us?" I joked, barely realising that we were now well away from the castle, and that no-one apart from Hagrid was on the grounds.

And Hagrid was a good hundred meters away, watering a dozen or so pumpkins that came to his knees but would probably be up to my stomach.

Which is kinda huge.

But anyway.

"Well, probably…" Blake stopped at that point and rather unceremoniously fell to the ground, the books falling down beside him, and stretched his arms out.

I raised an eyebrow down at him and he squinted up at me.

"Well, are you going to sit or would you rather read leaning on air?"

I rolled my eyes but sat down next to him anyway –though I was several inches away from actually being able to touch him- and wrapped my arms around me knees, head resting on top of them.

"So who's your favourite character?"

It took a second for me to realise what he was talking about, as I had been staring rather intently at a small curl that had broken from the whole and was resting on his forehead.

In a completely non-creepy way.

Psh.

"Uhm… Legolas. Although Ѐowyn too… You?"

"Samwise The Brave," Blake smirked and I laughed. "Who's your favourite Hobbit then?"

I answered straight away, not even having to think about it. "Pippin. He's just so adorably clueless,"

Blake nodded. "Completely understandable. He's my second favourite. My favourite non-Hobbit is Aragorn though. He's just completely epic,"

"This is true, Faramir is too though,"

"Oh please, Boromir is so much cooler,"

"You're kidding right? He tried to take the Ring!"

"And? Frodo's a pansy anyway,"

"Okay, I can't argue that. Sméagol is better than Frodo,"

"You mean _Gollum_?"

"Yes I mean Gollum! Don't you just feel so sorry for him?"

"No. He called Sam stupid and fat."

I snorted, rather loud at that.

"Okay but that was funny!"

"Was _not_! Sam is not stupid!"

"Uh huh, and Sauron isn't evil,"

"I actually think the Nazgûl are worse than Sauron,"

"…okay yea, those things are just creepy,"

Only now am I realising how completely ridiculous this conversation was.

We were seriously arguing about _Lord of the Rings_.

And I am not proud to say that it got worse.

To the point of me quoting it.

"'Ho Tom Bombadil, Tom Bombadillo!  
>By water, wood and hill, by the reed and willow,<br>By fire, sun and moon, harken now and hear us!  
>Come, Tom Bombadil, for our need is near us!'"<p>

I half-sang about half an hour later, earning small applause from Blake.

"I can't believe you actually memorized that!"

"I can't believe I actually _sang_ that," I muttered, feeling my cheeks burn slightly.

"Hey, no shame! It was pretty fantastic actually," I snorted and rolled my eyes, but feeling slightly better. "More than I've memorized at least,"

"Oh?" Of course I was curious now.

"'Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,  
>Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,<br>Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,  
>One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne<br>In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.  
>One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to bind them<br>One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them  
>In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie'"<p>

Of course I had memorized that to, and was actually mouthing along with it as Blake spoke.

And, though I wouldn't admit it –yet- I had also memorized one of Bilbo's song-poems, from the second part of _The Fellowship of the Ring_.

And several quotes from my favourite characters.

Psh, _details_.

Blake seemed to have realised I was quoting along with him and grinned.

"And now that feels less impressive to me. You clearly have the superior memory here, care to share another?"

"'But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Ѐowyn I am, Ѐomund's daughter. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him.'"

There was silence after that, and I felt myself turning red again. I was about to open my mouth and make up some excuse to get back inside but Blake spoke first.

"I can see why Ѐowyn is one of your favourites, she is pretty amazing…"

I forced one corner of my mouth up, blushing harder at the odd tone to his voice.

"Well, there were plenty of other reasons why I liked her, but that part pretty much sealed the deal. Merlin knows _I'd _never be able to stand up to the Nazgûl like that,"

Blake gave me a long look and I shifted slightly, biting at my lip.

"Yeah…" he finally mumbled, looking down at the books which we had only really opened two or three times to point out our favourite chapters and such. "Do you think Muggles'll ever make a movie? About _Lord of the Rings_,"

My eyes widened slightly.

I hadn't ever actually considered that.

"I… I dunno… I hope so. But like, they really should make sure they do a good job of it. Merlin knows what I'd do if I see any suspension wires in _Lord of the Rings_," Blake laughed.

"I'd probably cast a memory charm on myself to wipe out the memory of it. I wouldn't be able to handle anything to do with _Lord of the Rings_ being _bad_,"

I nodded.

"Well, it's starting to get a little windy so… think we should head back up?"

I nodded again, piling Blake's books as he stood up and handing them to him, moving to push myself up when I felt his hand on mine, pulling me up. I felt myself stumble a little and bumped into him.

My face burned and I looked away.

Stupid legs.

Why did they have to fall asleep?

Ugh.

Blake just smiled though, grabbing my shoulder to steady me.

"You right?"

"Yup," I answered, probably much too quickly, "Just fine. Leg just fell asleep, that's all. I'm good now. Let's get back to the castle,"

Oh god I'm an idiot.

Too late now though, unfortunately…

Blake just smiled though and we made our way back up to the castle.

And now I'm laying here on my bed, finally processing all the little things about our conversation on the grounds.

Like the long pause after I had quoted Ѐowyn, his continuous awe about the fact that I had actually read the books, and when he had helped me up.

(Also the fact that I have grass stains on my jeans, but at this point I really don't care, pretty sure I'll be able to find a spell to get rid of them anyway)

And it's almost dinner time now, and I'm wondering what I'm actually going to do when I get down there, because I'm pretty Blake will sit next to me again, and Kira and Andie have been giving me these annoying looks ever since I came back and asking all sorts of questions which I have pretty much refused to ans-

**Date: Same  
>Time: About 20 minutes later<br>Location: Girls dorm**

Those fucking _bitches_.

They just stole my journal and ran into the bathroom before I could get it back off them.

And when they _finally_ came back out with it, they had these evil grins on their faces and just-

Ugh.

I'm going down to dinner while I still can, because they're making stupid kissy faces at me.

Completely immature.

**Date: Same  
>Time: After dinner<br>Location: Girls dorm**

I went and sat with Kailee at dinner.

It spared me from having to avoid sitting next to Blake. Or Kira and Andie.

Kailee was confused at first when I plunked myself down next to her, but when I refused to explain she merely shrugged and continued eating.

The Marauders of course refused to back down and had started making a list of ridiculous reasons as to why I was there, starting with 'You want to sit with normal people' -which I quickly deflected because _seriously_. They were as bad, if not _worse_ than Kira and Andie- and ended with 'You just want to shag James and I, don't you?'.

Which earned Sirius an eyeful of gravy.

No regrets.

Needless to say, they stopped after that.

Of course, I did keep one eye on the Hufflepuff table the whole time, and even after I finished eating, I didn't get up and leave until I saw Blake get up and walk out.

As I was getting up though, I did catch Sirius staring at Kailee and sent him a look, threatening another glob of something hot in his eye. It would probably be fudge sauce this time though, as dessert had arrived about five minutes earlier and I had shoved a brownie or two into my mouth… Okay, maybe four. I'm only so strong.

I made my way back to the dorm and slunk past everyone in the Common Room unnoticed, climbing through the round door to the 6th year room with nothing short of a relieved sigh.

Until I saw Josey, that is.

No-one else was actually back, which had me almost panicking, especially when I saw the redheads face when she saw _me_. I kept my face neutral though, in the hopes that she would leave me alone.

No such luck, of course.

"What do you think you're doing?"

I'd just moved to my little bedside table at this point and grabbed my toothbrush. I turned around to face her with an eyebrow raised.

"Uhm, brushing my teeth?"

She rolled her eyes, putting her hands on her hips.

"I mean Blake,"

Right. Of course she did.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I tried for nonchalant, but came off more strained than anything.

"Liar. Why were you alone with him on the grounds?"

"Okay, one; I don't even know how you know about that, and two; he was showing me around. No big deal,"

Now that I think about it of course, he didn't really end up showing me around, but I pretty much figured out where Hagrid lived and where the lake was…

"Oh please, you don't really expect me to believe that, do you?"

I frowned but tried my best to ignore her as I walked towards the bathroom.

"He's just using you, you know,"

That stopped me.

I felt my throat tighten before I took a deep breath and turned back around, eyes narrowed. Josey seemed pleased at this, smirk growing.

"Listen Princess," I ground out, "If he is or isn't doesn't matter because, unlike _you_ I don't have any delusions about him actually liking me. We have some stuff in common sure, unlike you, and if that bothers you, you'll just have to deal with it because as far as I've been told; he's not. Interested. In _you_,"

Josey's mouth fell open and I couldn't stop the surge of triumph that thankfully swallowed the hurt and suspicion Josey had planted.

"Now if you'll excuse me,"

And I turned and walked into the bathroom, slamming the door behind me.

I took a deep breath before moving to the sink and stared at my reflection for a moment, willing away the glassy look in my eyes.

When I walked back out five minutes later the hangings around Josey's bed had been drawn and I couldn't stop the smirk as I moved to my own bed, propping myself up and grabbing this, just as Kira and Andie flung the door open and strode in, humming some ridiculous tune ridiculously loud.

I gave them a wary look, stuffing this back under my pillow.

"Ah! Ellie! We've been looking everywhere for you!"

"We feared you'd been kidnapped by those _Gryffindor's_!"

I rolled my eyes.

"Enough with the theatrics. Not really in the mood,"

"Oh?" Andie raised an eyebrow and jumped onto my bed, crushing my feet. I winced and pulled them closer to myself. "Do tell!"

I glanced at Josey's bed and back at the other two. Kira had sat on the edge of my bed as well, and the both of them were giving me curious looks.

I sighed and quietly recapped my little confrontation with the Prefect and they both gaped at me.

"Wow, Ellie. You got some balls."

I hit Andie over the head with a pillow.

"Okay, now you know, get off my bed, I'm tired!"

"Okay, okay! See you in the morning Sweet cheeks!"

"…did you seriously just call me 'Sweet cheeks'?"

"Night Ellie!"

I have no idea how I'm going to survive the next two years.

**A/N:**

So! I finally did it!

I _finally_ finished this _stupid_ chapter!

After several months of it gathering cobwebs in my fan-fiction folder, I dusted it off and read over it.

I found several things I _needed_ to change and did so.

Like the title, because I came up with a cute mini-plot idea.

Huzzah for Lord of the Rings!

Sorry if you don't really like Lord of the Rings, but I'm just warning you now that there most likely will be more quotes and such ;P

Also yes, new character. Possible love interest.

No. No he is _not_ based off one curly-haired, hazel-eyed actor with whom I am rather infatuated with. What are you talking about. :P

Aha, anyway, I best get to writing the next chapter, shouldn't I? I know Andie, I know. You're gonna love me forever for this :) sorry it took so long, or that I didn't tell you that I had actually started finishing it ahah. Told you I would Kira ;D

Much love to everyone who alerted, favourited or reviewed this (did anyone actually review it? Gosh I can't remember…) and has patiently waited for this bloody chapter xP But be happy, this monster is 9,494 words long. Can't remember how long the other one is, but still.

GOING NOW!

Xx Gazellie


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